Going gets tough for Tusker

What you need to know:

  • Matano has publicly stated his dissatisfaction with the quality of personnel at his disposal and after the 2-0 loss to Homeboyz, saying the club must bring in more experienced players in June if anything is to change.
  • “We just didn’t play as a team. There was no flow, no cohesion, nothing worked. We have to get players who can do the job. We have good players but we need players who can help the team,” Matano said after Saturday’s match.

Former Kenyan Premier League champions Tusker have remained in the last half of the SportPesa Premier League table, a position they have held since the beginning of the season.

Last weekend, Tusker lost 2-0 to Kakamega Homeboyz in what was the brewers’ first ever defeat to the Kakamega-based side.

It was also a third consecutive defeat for the club, having been beaten by newbies Nakumatt and Kariobangi Sharks in the last three weeks.

These statistics, for a team that has 11 league titles to their name, are particularly worrying especially because they have on their side one of Kenya’s most experienced coaches in Robert Matano, who was expected to excel where Ugandans Sam Timbe and George Nsimbe had failed.

That has not happened, and the brewers are enduring what is one of their worst performances.

Matano has publicly stated his dissatisfaction with the quality of personnel at his disposal and after the 2-0 loss to Homeboyz, saying the club must bring in more experienced players in June if anything is to change.

“We just didn’t play as a team. There was no flow, no cohesion, nothing worked. We have to get players who can do the job. We have good players but we need players who can help the team,” Matano said after Saturday’s match.

Those who know Matano well know that this points at another radical surgery at the club when the June transfer window opens at midnight this Thursday.

If he gets his way, Tusker fans should expect to see about 10 players being offloaded and a similar number being brought in to correct the management’s mistake of letting 14 first team players go in December last year, in a massive cleanup that saw James Situma, Allan Wanga, Humphrey Mieno, Clifford Alwanga and Noah Wafula dropped and replaced by new faces who have failed to sparkle.

The club, it is understood, was keen to offload the “big names” with sources claiming they were unruly and had proved disruptive both on and off the field.