'Kotoko Still Have A Long way To Go'

Kojo Addai-Mensah - Kotoko Board Member

Despite being crowned the Glo League champions, a board member of Kumasi Asante Kotoko, Kojo Addai-Mensah, has made an honest admission that the Porcupine Warriors are far from hitting winning form.

He said winning the last Premier League had erroneously pushed some of the players into believing that the team had arrived.

“Winning the Premier League and some few Professional League Board awards means nothing and we need to put things right before we embark on the Africa journey next year, he said“

In an interview with the Graphic Sports in Kumasi on the club's loss to Berekum Chelsea in the President's Cup match, Mr Addai-Mensah stated that the team was hugely exposed by Chelsea, losing 1-2.

The board member, who is also the Chief Operatiing Officer of Ghana Commercial Bank, suspected that complacency had taken a good part of the team.

“Some of the players think they have reached the top. That is a huge mistake and we have to get somebody to tell them they are far away from where they should be,” he stressed.

He also pointed out that the team lacked proper conditioning as evident in the match against Chelsea.

“I will not want to single out players but apart from Nii Adjei who as usual showed seriousness in the match against Chelsea, many of the remaining players were simply not up to the task.

“If you are playing clubs like T.P Mazembe and Al-Ahly with this team you surely will be in trouble,” he said.

The board member thinks the team needs two potent strikers to augment the existing force.

Asked whether management was pursuing the signature of Hearts of Oak’s hitman Mahatma Otoo as reported in a section of the media, Mr Addai-Mensah replied in the affirmative but wondered whether Hearts would transfer the player.

However, he maintained that it would be in the player’s own interest to make a move to Asante Kotoko.

The Kotoko defence, he noted, also needed infusion of fresh legs, saying for now “We can’t rely on this defence.”