It has been a year since Medeama S.C. hired Ibrahim Tanko as their head coach, and a significant amount has changed since then.
At the time, Medeama were winless in four league matches when he took over.
Two wins, including a 1-0 victory over Legon Cities, who were eventually relegated, and a 3-1 win over Bechem United, were followed by consecutive defeats.
By the end of the season, Tanko managed 24 points from 16 matches, as Medeama ended the campaign with 50 points, finishing in 8th place for the second consecutive season.
Tanko’s inability to immediately transform the team appeared to confirm the fears of many critics.
The logic was simple: a mid-season appointment is supposed to be a quick fix to stop the bleeding.
It made sense. What did not make sense were the suggestions that it formed the basis for being skeptical.
Especially the exaggerated takes that referenced his record.
What is that record?
Two head coach roles at the Black Meteors and Accra Lions.
In 2018, Tanko qualified Ghana for its first U-23 Africa Cup of Nations in 23 years. The following year, he coached the team at the tournament and got within a penalty kick of securing a first Olympic qualification for Ghana since 2004.
His other job was a three-year role at Accra Lions. He took the club from obscurity to a 2nd place finish in the 2023/24 season, before stepping down midway through the following season.
But the context of the Accra Lions’ role and its unique requirements should not be lost on many.
Lions are not built to challenge for honours. It is a club built to develop players for the bigger European and Asian markets.
Given its successes in moving top talents abroad while in the Division One League, it is fair to say that their stay in the league does not directly affect the credibility of their conveyor belt. That is why the club does not invest in or prioritise a strong league finish.
To that extent, Tanko’s second-place finish in the league two years ago was an achievement worth celebrating.
In the past month, the critical voices have grown louder following a run of five consecutive matches without a win.
On 25th January, Medeama took an eight-point lead at the summit of the league, after a 3-1 win over Karela.
Since then, Medeama have not won in five attempts, reducing their healthy advantage to just 1 point.
It is fair tos crutinize such a run, but how they got there in the first place should not be forgotten.
Medeama started the season with a run of four wins in five matches and managed a 17-game unbeaten run, setting a new club record in the process.
It is what foundationed their ascent to the summit of the league.
Yet, the focus has rather been on the five games without a win.
To be fair, it is not a record to be proud of. That is the sort of run that got his predecessor, Evans Adotey, fired from the job. It is also what has made Sunday’s FA Cup win over Attram de Visser special.
It not only keeps him in business, but Kelvin Nkrumah’s nine-minute hat trick in extra time keeps the historic double alive.
Salim Adams was not his decisive self.
Fuzy Taylor did not score.
Kingsley Braye huffed and puffed.
For 100 minutes, it looked like Medeama would not be able to do it.
But deep in extra time, Kelvin Nkrumah produced a never-before-seen performance to win it.
It is not something you can explain away with tactics. Or any combination of technical factors.
Not when desperation sets in, and tactics and all its forms go out of the window.
Maybe that is what Tanko and Medeama will need to get it over the line: a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.
Prince Owusu will return, and when he does, his occupation of the half space will continue. The same goes for Salim Adams, who has also dominated zone 14, or the area around the arc on the penalty box.
Fatawu Sulemana’s cutbacks will also continue.
Those are the movements that have typified Medeama’s season.
But where all that failed Ibrahim Tanko, determination, a willingness to run into channels that Nkrumah would previously not make, to occupy spaces in a way that forces Salim Adams to move, throwing the midfield shape into disarray… that kind of bravery may be the difference between a historic double or otherwise.
Of course, the attitude of a team in extra time of a knockout match will not be the same as what we are likely to see in a league match.
But the demands remain the same: just win.
While Tanko’s methods have not been poor in the past month, they have been tlegraohed, and Medeama have paid the price for it.
If the price for a historic double is a bit more invention and craft, interspersed with some tactical madness, why not?
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com