The head coach of Ridge City, Loius Ano-Ampofo, has explained his decision to substitute midfielder, Memunatu Iddrisu, in his side’s 3-3 draw with Thunder Queens over the weekend.
Memunatu was introduced prior to the beginning of the second half in the Malta Guinness Women’s Premier League matchday three fixture after her side was trailing 3-1 at halftime. She replaced Regina Amoah, who was ineffective when she had the ball for the last 10 minutes of the opening half.
However, despite coming on for the second half, Memunatu was taken off immediately after the Panthers drew level after Cecilia Agyiri and Loretta Afful had scored.
That decision didn’t go unnoticed as it led to some supporters of the team questioning her withdrawal but Ano-Ampofo has revealed it was a tactical decision.
“Memuna despite her many weaknesses physically is one of the best with a good spatial awareness. Even in our training sessions, she easily upset and disrupts the opponent structure when you allow her freedom to move when we are in possession,” he told Joy Sports.
“Before she [Memunatu] came on, we [technical team] needed to score but we realised Regina was not as effective in possession as she was out of possession and we needed someone who could create an opening for our ball progression by pulling opponents away from their mid-block for through balls instead of long balls which we lost easily. She came on and did fairly well in that regard and even made the pre-assist for Loretta’s goal.
“After we restored parity, it was obvious Thunder Queens was gonna come out hard again to try and get a lead and at that point, Memuna was going to be ineffective and out of the game and that’s why we decided to take her off for a player with a more physical presence.”
Ridge City are still without a win in their in their opening three games in the Malta Guinness WPL and face Army Ladies in their next league game hoping to snatch a first win of their maiden campaign.
Source: myjoyonline.com