The ManicaPost
Ray Bande Senior Reporter
MANICA Diamonds’ coach Luke Masomere’s credentials are now subject of intense debate in football circles around the eastern border city of Mutare as critics and fanatics watch all their great expectations for the club fizzle into an unpleasant reality of a bitter relegation dogfight for the Gem Boys.
Vahombe, as he is popularly known, is proving to be not so big a football persona as his expensively assembled side slides down the log table with each passing week.
That Masomere’s team needed 450 minutes of play to score just one goal puts paid to claims by some pundits that the former Masvingo United coach, unlike some shrewd tacticians, cannot turn an average side into championship winning material.
It was also understandable, much as it was pathetic, when Manica Diamonds’ fans celebrated the equaliser as if they had won league championship on Sunday given their team’s dismal performance in recent matches.
The Gem Boys, as Manica Diamonds are fondly referred to, had gone for four matches without finding the net and Sundays’ 89th minute equaliser was the first goal in 450 minutes of play.
Masomere watched in agony as his team failed to find the back of the net away against Bulawayo Chiefs as the Gem Boys succumbed to a morale sapping one nil defeat.
The match against Bulawayo Chiefs was the fourth league encounter in which Manica Diamonds had gone without being able to convert.
The sole Mutare based Castle Lager Premiership outfit had last tasted how it feels to score a goal in the match against Yadah Stars when they were still using Gibo Stadium as their home ground.
Since then, Masomere has been in the dugout as he helplessly watched his charges settle for a goalless stalemate against Dynamos in Harare before they huffed and puffed to another goalless draw against Ngezi Platinum at Vengere Stadium.
Manica Diamonds were on receiving end away in Zvishavane at Mandava Stadium where they were edged by a solitary goal against the league’s defending champions FC Platinum.
No wonder Masomere was a relieved man after the final whistle on Sunday.
“I think we played well as a team but unfortunately we could not score goals. I can say this was the best performance so far. When we start scoring like this it brings back the confidence. We hope to work from here to ensure that we get more goals otherwise we are playing well,” he said.
While coaches are quick to blame their failures or shortcomings on resources or players at their disposal, other teams, Chapungu for example, are performing above average albeit working with limited resources and little known players.
Some questionable decisions have also drawn the ire of supporters who are now querying the veteran coach’s pedigree.
How Masomere kept faith in Tendai Mukono to last the entire match was a mystery given that the player a bundle of nerves committing some high school blunders throughout the match, including a terrible miss in which he headed the ball wide off target while unmarked from close range.
In the eyes of many neutrals, pulling out dreadlocked midfielder Last Jesi in that match against Highlanders, the only player on the pitch who was not only comfortable on the ball but distributed with unmatched precision, bordered on negative attitude towards the player.
Not even the argument that Jesi does not last 90 minutes holds water given that by the time he is substituted he is one of the few players who would be performing well on the pitch.
Thus some feel it is better to use a player who looks tired but performing well than keeping a player who is not looking tired but performing dismally.
“This is really disappointing. Manica Diamonds is not a team that is struggling for resources so we anticipated better results especially after struggling to have them play near home at Vengere Stadium. I personally think the coach (Masomere) is failing us. I humbly suggest to the powers that be to consider coaches like Timothy ‘Sicho’ Masachi for this job,” said David Mambondiani of Mutare.
Masimba Makhuyana of Rusape said he believes Masomere is a poor tactician who normally has players that are closer to him than others.
“Masomere seems to be fielding players because of their identity and relationship between him and the players and not because of their performance.
“Last Jesi is always being pulled out even when he is having a good game compared to his team mates. Why is Tendai Mukono being given game time he does not deserve at all? It shows you that he is somehow not balanced in his selection. Unfortunately this is happening at the expense of the team,” he said.
