By Goal.com News on Tuesday, 29 December 2020
Category: Goal.com News

Boniface Ambani slams Gor Mahia's defensive frailties after humiliating loss vs CR Belouizdad

The 38-year-old AFC Leopards legend also criticised Gor Mahia for not learning lesson's from their previous continental outings

AFC Leopards legend Boniface Ambani has blamed defensive misunderstandings and a failure to learn continental football lessons for Gor Mahia's humiliating 6-0 loss away to CR Belouizdad in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the Caf Champions League game.  

The Great Chabab scored their goals through Amir Sayoud, who scored a hat-trick, Hamza Bellahouel, Larbi Tabti, and Maecky Ngombo during a thoroughly one-sided display.

The former striker has pointed out weaknesses at the back, which he believes contributed to the big loss.

"There was no cohesion in that defense, there were a lot of misunderstandings from what I saw," Ambani told Goal on Tuesday.

"From the goalkeeper to his four defenders. There was a lack of communication and reaction from the department.

"There are two instances the goalkeeper made saves but the defenders were slow to react. When a goalkeeper makes a save, the defenders should be there to clear the danger.

"However, I still fault the whole team because the defense starts from the attack. Strikers have to trackback. So if the strikers and midfielders cannot mark, there is nothing the defense can do."  

The 38-year-old has also stated K'Ogalo have failed to learn their lessons from previous continental competition participation.

"The problem with Gor Mahia, they do not learn," Ambani said.

"For them to make it to the group stage, they have to apply the lessons from the previous campaign. They lack consistency on the continental assignments.

"They lose a lot of players, then they go to the same competition with the new set of players who are learning again. They do not know where their mistakes were.

"But when you retain the players, there is a starting point. You discuss where the problem was and you work on them as a unit."

In the first leg, K'Ogalo came into the match without the services of their influential captain Kenneth Muguna, midfielder Bernard Ondiek and Nicholas Kipkirui. The first two were nursing injuries while the former Zoo FC man had family issues.    

The trio are expected to be fit for the second leg to be played on Wednesday, January 6 at Nyayo Stadium.

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Original author: Seth Willis
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