Coach Johnson smith has received a major boost after the return of two midfield dynamos Richard Senanu and Mudasiru Salifu into his Kotoko team
The two midfielders were pictured training with the first-team on Thursday afternoon on newastroturf in Atonsu a suburb in Kumasi.
Senanu 26, picked up an injury during Kotoko 2-1 win over Zesco United at home in the Confederation Cup in 2018/19 season. Medical checks showed he suffered two ligament tears at two sides of the knee.
Meanwhile, Mudasiru sustained an injury just before the start of the 2020/2021 league season.
The good news is that the two midfielders are close to fitness and ready for games.
Halftimegh.com is looking at what it means for the return of the two into the Kotoko setup.
Before he sustained that bad injury, Senanu was the heartbeat of coach Charles Akonnor’s team that qualified into the group stage of CAF confederation for the first time in several years.
Senanu formed a formidable partnership with Kwame Bonsu but unfortunately, his injury against the Zambian side distorted Kotoko team which couldn’t qualify after drawing 1-1 at home to Al-Hilal in the last game in the group.
Kotoko couldn’t replace Senanu after numerous experiments which saw coach CK using then captain Amos Frimpong in the midfield since Umar Bashiru couldn’t convince.
After mixed results, CK was sacked.
Kotoko finally found a presence in their midfield after bringing in Justice Blay on loan from Medeama, but the then coach Kjetil Zacchariasen couldn’t find the midfield balance and after few bad results, he was also fired.
Maxwell Konadu returned to the team as head coach and seemed to have found a powerful midfield combination involving Blay, Mudasiru and Adom Frimpong.
However injuries and coronavirus pandemic couldn’t allow that midfield combination to really show what they got and after the league was truncated Blay returned to his parent club.
Maxwell was fired after losing Blay, and Mudasiru with Senanu still on the sidelines, couple with bad performances into the 2020/2021 Premier League season.
The unavailability of Senanu and Mudasiruhas caused Kotoko results facilitating the sacking of three coaches in the process.
Senanu shown to all Kotoko faithful that he is one of the best defensive midfielders in the country, he is calm on the ball, reads the game very well, can shoot with both foot, he is a good passer of the ball and destroys opposition moves etc.
Mudasiru on the other hand can play in any of the positions in midfield, he provides energy, physic, intelligent runs, can dribble and shoots well.
The two players can play together in the same setup, so.
The return of the two players, plus players like Muniru Sulley, Fabio Gama, Latif Anabila, Emmanuel Keyekeh, Adom Frimpong, Emmanuel Sarkodie will mean that Kotoko has the best midfield in the country and should be capable of winning the league.
The return of the two players will mean that Kotoko might not need Justice Blay after all.
