Four sins of Chris Hughton as Black Stars coach

Immediate past Black Stars coach, Chris Hughton has returned to his base in the United Kingdom after being relieved of his job as head coach of the Black Stars following Ghana's exit from the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

In his one-year spell as Ghana coach, Chris Hughton endured a difficult period with his team showing no sign of progress as well as plan.

Chris Hughton took charge of 12 games in his almost one-year duration as Ghana coach, winning four games, drawing four and losing four.

As the post-mortem into the 2023 AFCON continues, GhanaWeb highlights five areas where Chris Hughton made costly errors as Ghana's coach.

Coaching principle

The marriage between Ghana and Chris Hughton was always not going to work fundamentally because of his coaching principle is at variance with the current strength and making of the current crop of Black Stars players.

Chris Hughton has been known to be a conservative and defensive-minded coach who sets up his team not to concede instead of scoring first.

This tactical principle of his was apparent in how he often set up the team with two defensive midfielders even against teams where Ghana needed to be expansive, offensive and attack with pace.

With the strength of the team lying in the offensive and defensive areas, it was always going to be difficult for Chris Hughton to implement his coaching philosophy, especially with such limited time.

Never got buy-in of GFA Officials

Right from the on-set, the GFA officials made it clear to Chris Hughton that they were not a fan of his presence and that but for his influential associates at Jubilee House, he would not have been appointed.

This situation meant that it was always going to be difficult for Hughton to enjoy the best of support and cooperation from the FA.

While the FA can shoulder some blame for not giving Chris Hughton the best of support, Chris Hughton can also blame himself for not doing enough to earn the support and respect of the FA officials and the Ghanaians who doubted his competence despite his rich CV.

Questionable selections

Throughout his spell, there was hardly a time when Chris Hughton fielded a team that got most Ghanaians convinced that he was really up for the task.

Almost every call-up and selection had questions written over them with doubts about the form and experience of the said players.

In the AFCON for instance, his strange substitution of Joseph Paintsil is one thing that left many Ghanaians puzzled.

His decision to go into the AFCON with just two central midfielders despite being aware of the injury record of Majeed Ashimeru is also another call that left many people.

Inability to instil discipline

If reports from the team’s camp in Ivory Coast are anything to go by then clearly discipline was a big issue in the Black Stars camp.

The Black Stars have been hit with allegations of disunity and players allegedly entertaining ladies at odd hours, among other things.

The lack of commitment, determination and hunger demonstrated by the players could well be attributed to the inability of Chris Hughton to inspire these elements in his players.

Watch GhanaWeb's review of Ghana's AFCON performance below





EK