Yussif Chibsah questions the timing of Mariano Barreto’s appointment

Former captain of Asante Kotoko, Yussif Chibsah, has questioned the timing of appointing Portuguese coach Mariano Barreto as the head coach of the club.

Asante Kotoko on Friday announced the appointment of Barreto as the club’s head coach along with two compatriots to work in a restructured technical department.

Despite admitting the competence and experience of Barreto to turn around the fortunes of the club, Chibsah questioned the club’s decision to appoint him just a week to the commencement of the second round of the Ghana Premier League.

“Remember the league is starting in about a week’s time, do you really think Barreto will be able to do any changes within a week? Naturally, it doesn’t add up. Why don’t you wait to bring him at the beginning of the season so he has, at least, three months for pre-season to prepare the team the way he wants it?” he queried in an interview with Graphic Sports.

“As to he (Barreto) being the right person I’ll say yes and no. Yes as to the kind of person I know he is — a disciplinarian and somebody that believes so much in fitness and taking that into consideration I’ll say yes he is the right person.”

”But then again, you have to judge him by his performance and I also have a few concerns about the timing because he didn’t take the players through pre-season, he came halfway into the season so you cannot blame him for the current state of the players. He hasn’t got time to put them in shape if they are not in shape for his standard,” said Chibsah, who worked under Barreto as captain of Ghana’s Olympic team in 2004.

Chibsah who is now a FIFA licence agent advised his former club to believe in coaches they employ and give them the ample time to to introduce their philosophy.

“If you employ a coach you have to believe in him, you have to believe in his philosophy and you have to give him time and that is the most important thing. But Kotoko is a club that don’t have that patient, they always want to get results right away,” he added.