{"id":366617,"date":"2017-10-30T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T06:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=366617"},"modified":"2017-10-30T06:00:31","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T06:00:31","slug":"quaos-monday-moanings-fabulous-kotoko-epl-big-boys-and-young-english-kings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/10\/quaos-monday-moanings-fabulous-kotoko-epl-big-boys-and-young-english-kings\/","title":{"rendered":"QUAO\u2019s Monday Moanings: Fabulous Kotoko, EPL big boys and Young English Kings"},"content":{"rendered":"
Citi Sports editor, Nathan Quao, rewinds to the weekend and talks about the magnificent Asante Kotoko and the top teams winning again in the Premier League in his latest Monday column.<\/em><\/p>\n Porcupine Ruthlessness\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n At very irregular moments, cup finals leave you asking \u201chow did that happen?\u201d because those ones tend to follow the strangest of scripts.<\/p>\n Sunday\u2019s MTN FA Cup final between Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak was one of the \u2018strange\u2019 ones. I say strange because Hearts were expected to come into the match with a lot of confidence and give off a great performance. That, of course, was not going to guarantee victory but it was to follow the form guide.<\/p>\n But did not happen. It was Kotoko who looked like they had prepared for the match. It seemed all their travails of the season set them up for this one match against the old enemy.<\/p>\n They attacked from the first second and after 81, Saddick Adams reminded all of us of his quality. He steadied himself to finish well after a move from the left wing.<\/p>\n Then, he scored a penalty after 30 minutes. His third for me, was the final part of full performance. All good strikers take a gamble and go for what may be a non-existent chance.<\/p>\n He did that and pounced on Vincent Atingah\u2019s rather lame header towards his goalie, Ben Mensah. Adams went round the goalkeeper and scored his hat-trick; the first for a Kotoko player against Hearts in a first half since Opoku Nti did that back in 1983.<\/p>\n The game was up for Hearts at that point.<\/p>\n I wonder how Hearts of Oak will recover from the loss. The players were too slow and did not see what was happening.<\/p>\n Could it also be that their coach Frank Nuttal got his selection wrong? Atingah and Richard Akrofi in central defence could not work together.<\/p>\n Malik Akowuah was more interested in hacking players down than doing some good break-up play in midfield. The Phobians looked strangled all game and their second half push was woefully inadequate.<\/p>\n The pain of the defeat will have to stay with them and remind of faring better when they get the next opportunity.<\/p>\n For Kotoko, the joy of victory should also remind them of what they can achieve if they work hard. Next time, it could be them facing the barrel of the long gun of a loss.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Big boys get their way in Premier League<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The Premier League\u2019s top teams had to kick on from their work in the previous week and for some, the need for a win was so great and of course, all the action was live on Citi 97.3 FM.<\/p>\n The team that needed to get something positive was Manchester United against Tottenham and they did. I was at a wedding on Saturday so, it was pure torture as I had to keep refreshing my Twitter handle for updates from the Citi FM account and all my football apps for the latest.<\/p>\n May the Lord forgive me but it had to be done.<\/p>\n Later, when I watched the highlights, I noticed that the Red Devils had better tempo and more aggression but Spurs settled and showed their hand.<\/p>\n However, Man United went for the kill and a good change by Jose Mourinho brought Anthony Martial on for Marcus Rashford and the French forward struck the winner in the 81st minute.<\/p>\n Ander Herrera was good at running around to keep tabs on Spurs\u2019 midfield because that was the only way to stop them from thinking well and creating openings for Son Heung-Min and Dele Alli who had to find the goals in the absence of Harry Kane.<\/p>\n I did not expect Mourinho to sit back for this one. He was at home and he had to show Spurs that winning was equally important to him.<\/p>\n But Spurs did look fairly blunt without Kane and there is no hiding it. If Llorente will be their second option, then they need to start working on how use him else they will struggle.<\/p>\n Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea all got their victories and even though, the scorelines show straight forward story lines, the matches themselves were tougher. However, big teams respond to challenges and conquer them.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Arsenal had to fight back from a goal down, Liverpool missed a penalty while Chelsea had to withstand Bournemouth\u2019s industry.<\/p>\n But how did Michail Antonio not use years of playing in the league to run down the clock for West Ham to beat Crystal Palace? He must have felt sick at the sight of Wilfried Zaha scoring an equaliser in the 96th minute.<\/p>\n For once, Slaven Bilic can say that his players (or Antonio) let him down badly.<\/p>\n