Gor Mahia center-back Joshua ’Mangulu’ Onyango has revealed the reasons behind K’Ogalo’s struggles this season as they face the possibility of missing the league title for only the second time in the last 11 seasons.
While many pundits and fans anticipated a more lethal K’Ogalo this season than the team that dominated last term, the Kenyan giants have been a pale shadow of themselves.
The 21-time league champions have dropped points in many matches when they were expected to register routine wins. When they won matches, it was rarely a convincing victory, as was the case last season.
Speaking to Mozzart Sport, Onyango, who has been a key figure at the heart of K’Ogalo’s defense for the past two seasons, explained their struggles.
“The philosophy has changed. I think last season we conceded less because we were more defensive and caught teams off guard on the counterattack,” said Onyango.
“This season, there have been a lot of philosophies due to coaching changes, with the majority of them being attack-oriented,” he added.
Gor Mahia have had four head coaches this season – Leo Neiva and Sinisa Mihic have been in charge, with Zico sandwiching their tenures, albeit on an interim basis.
With two matches left last season, Gor Mahia were already declared champions with 67 points and had only conceded 15 league goals.
This season, the FKF Premier League defending champions are second on the log with 55 points and have conceded 21 goals. According to Onyango, the team’s setup this season has exposed them defensively and made them vulnerable to what was their strength last campaign.
“We are playing more ‘modern football’, which is more attacking and with a high line, which has seen us get caught on the counter,” he remarked. Gor Mahia face an uphill battle to successfully defend their league title, as log leaders Kenya Police FC need only a single point from their two remaining games to be declared champions.
Nevertheless, K’Ogalo are in the finals of the Mozzart Bet Cup, where they will face newly promoted FKF Premier League side Nairobi United for a chance to not only walk away with Ksh2 million but also with a ticket to the CAF Confederation Cup.
Source: Mozzart Sports