Blog: Where was Paul Were??

They say that football coaching is the hardest job in the world. You have to put in 11 different personalities, ideas, emotions, ways of thinking and temperament to form one force, one equal force.

But that is lost to football fans of nowadays, as most fans anyway are fantasy football maniacs. They also coach teams to wins and losses, don't they?

There, you get to pick up your own group of 11 players and compete on points, tallies, e.t.c..... When I was younger, I did so on football manager which was a playstation game.

It was more difficult than what fantasy football brings, it was more indulging in the sense that you played it game by game and had long seasons and your choices were put to the test.

Up to date, that is the toughest virtual football game I have ever played because it forces you to think and use your sixth sense most times.

Difficult job

What I did fail to mention in the first paragraph is the fact that in coaching, there is one thing that always is a factor.. What the fans opinion is.

Whether you like it or not, football fans have opinions and likes and dislikes. They want to see what they feel and think is right. They claim to know what is correct.

If you ask a fan to name a squad of 11 players, he would name it and question what the coach has chosen.

I do the same too, with plenty of experience from playing fantasy football rings and placing stupid bets on football games. In many ways, I could even be fit to sit on a technical bench somewhere as an analyst.

I am the modern day fan.

Common sense

So when you sit down with a football purist and talk serious matters, you will quickly be told that you know nothing or you think you know something.

That is what I was told, during the derby clash between Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards.

You see, on Gor Mahia's side, there was Dan SSerunkuma, who was hurting Leopards really badly. His movement, unpredictability and trickery made Leopards look like fools time and again.

It was so obvious that Leopards couldn't deal with him defensively, but they had an option that could work for them, not exactly to deal with Sserunkuma, but to counter him.

Paul Were.

Know nothing

So the guys I was sat with were of the opinion, that as long as Jan Koops has decided to bench Were, he knows best.

I did not argue with that point as Koops is Leopards head coach.. It is his right and his choice.

But it was obvious to me that Were was a player who could Sserunkuma Gor; push them back and create havoc in their untroubled defence, put them in two minds.

I was berated for that, You kids think you know better than we who have been in the game for so very long, we have watched a million games...

That was until Were came on..

Why wasn't he played?

To those who watched the match, you saw what Were did.. Enough said.

So my question is, why isn't he getting played often? Leopards have struggled for inspiration going forward, lacking in guile maybe.. They have lacked Were.

I am not a Leopards fan or anything close, but leaving Were out was not the best decision made by the Leopards technical bench yesterday and as I understand, recently.

But who cares.. I am an inexperienced fantasy football coach.. Am I not?