Bernard Nana Adu Gyebi, immediate past Acting General Manager of Hearts of Oak, has revealed that they failed to plan when five of their players were handed call-ups to the just-ended 2022 African Nations Championship [CHAN] tournament in Algeria.
Gladon Awako, Konadu Yiadom, Denis Korsah, Seidu Suraj and Daniel Afriyie were in Annor Walker’s final squad for the tournament.
However, the Phobian club failed to keep the fine form in the absence of the said players.
Hearts of Oak suffered elimination in the MTN FA Cup against Dreams FC in the Round of 32.
In the last four games played, the club suffered a defeat, won one and shared spoils in the other two games.
The defeat against Real Tamale United over the weekend in the matchday 16 games leave the club at the 6th position with 25 points.
And according to Adu Gyebi, they failed to plan how they will replace the players that earned a place in the Black Galaxies team ahead of the tournament.
He also added that injuries hampered their consistent form but hopes the team starts to pick up points following the return of the players.
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“I must admit that I was part of the problem. When our players earned call-ups to play at the 2022 CHAN tournament, we should have been strategic in terms of the players we will allow them to join the national team and their replacements but we were not quick on that,” he told Asempa FM on the Ultimate Sports Show.
“We all make mistakes and I think we could have looked deep into that. It could be that the club was thinking so much.
“It is also an oversight that injuries can worry us as well. The team was badly affected by injuries which affected our consistent performance. The players are also recovering from injuries so hopefully, I am sure the team will get better,” he added.
Hearts of Oak will host Berekum Chelsea in the matchday 17 games at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday.