Humanizing The Bison

After what has been an impeccable career to this point, Michael Essien a.k.a Mr. Versatility has descended to the level of other mortals on the field. So I think this is the perfect time to pass judgment on The Bison’s best position on the field

For years we haven’t been able to determine what position was the strongest for the seemingly un-categorize- able Essien. This has been a dilemma for the bunch of coaches he has gone through for clubs and country. For a good 5-6 year window, the man was deployed in all sorts of positions from the middle to the right touchline of the field and for majority of those games he seemed like the best player that day. I have many memories of “man of the match” shifts he put in for positions 8, 6, 4, 5, 7, 2, and 10 (unless my memory is getting cloudy) from EPL, ANC, CL, WC and Quals. (Don’t think I need to explain these positions to anyone do I?)

There was always the baseless/useless debates among fans and analysts that “The coach is wasting him at right back (2)” or “The team is not getting the best out of him at center back (5)” or “The defense is missing his protection if he plays in an advanced role”,  as far as am concerned, that was all rubbish talk. No one at that time could possibly have known what his best position was. The man was just simply lights out in any position he was deployed.

Now that his play and physical prowess is declining his short comings are being exposed on a weekly basis. This season has shown Essien to be human in the middle positions, positions we thought were his main stays. At the moment I am thinking is at his best somewhere between 4, 7 and 2 all on the right (er)side of the pitch, he has declined in his ability to dominate the middle of the park. A few more weeks of his current form and we should know where his best is. Watching Mark Van Bommel play DM for Milan makes Essien look very ordinary.

Hope no one confuses this entry as a diss to Essien, because even in this poor phase is in, he is still much better than most midfielders in the game today.

Am I lying?

Right to left back--- Dan Opare 2nd chance?!

On board a united airlines enroute to Akron, Ohio for the weekend, I feel I should reflect on the Ghana BlackStars outings over the last 7 days or so.
If anything to at least distract me from the most obnoxious passenger I haver met. First words that blurred out when she boarded was "Maan am a gled agot fucked up before boarding". That should give an idea of how the rest of the flight is going.
So the balckstars have once again put smiles on faces all over Ghana and the rest of the continent. It's amazing how much respect can be gathered in a 4-5 years span. Don't know who to give credit to. I'll just heap it on Akwesi Nyantechi for now.
The Congo result was most impressive although the only footage of the game around is that atrocious clip from the Congolese News broadcast. From what's been said it seems Stevanovic has got the attack game going. That is great but from the England game it is obvious that he is not paying too much attention to the defense. Lee Addy's continuous abuse at left back was appalling and for him to show up like that is a disgrace. We are still waiting for his development and encouraging videos from his Red Star Belgrade performance gave some indication that he had turned the corner. Comparing his development to that of Jonathan Mensah is sad. Being the elderly, we all expect more from him.
Hans Adu Sarpei is not walking through that door to steady that position and hold the offside line. Is Afful the answer? 
I definitely know Rahim Ayew is not!
Or we have someone else coming thru the ranks?
It was interesting to see Dan Opare deployed to salvage the situation. That is a thought that I instantly fell in love with and haven't gotten ma mind off. Can the explosive young right back adapt to the left and be effective. Maybe someone should show him some Philip Lahm tapes on how to own left back with a right leg.
Given that Sammy Inkoom seem to have cemented the right back position for the next 10 years, opare would be doing the nation and his international ambitions true justice to grab hold of the opportunity, for the next 10 years. Unfortunate his injuries cost him his right back career for the BlackStars, but karma has presented a second opportunity at a legacy set by the man himself Isaac Asare who owned the position from u17, u20, u23 thru a long respectable BlackStar career.

Now time to socialize with ma fellow passengers :(