•“You can't play football on this kind of pitch and the league will not improve if we have to play in such situations,” —AFC coach
•Asseums, however, called upon his charges to maintain discipline and consistency if they hope to challenge for the league title this season.
AFC Leopards' head coach Patrick Asseums has blamed poor state of Mumias Complex grounds for their dismal show against struggling Vihiga United last weekend. .
“You can't play football on this kind of pitch and the league will not improve if we have to play in such situations,” he lamented.
The tactician said they were force to change their style of play, owing to what he termed as poor quality of the playing ground. "We were fortunate to end up with a barren draw in that kind of situation," he revealed.
Asseums, however, called upon his charges to maintain discipline and consistency if they hope to challenge for the league title this season.
The Belgium national admitted that besides the poor situation of the pitch, his midfielders lacked creativity and fluidity that they are used to—making it even harder the strikers.
“To be honest, I was bored throughout the 90 minutes of the play because this is not the kind of football people want to see.
"We started the match on the back-foot, giving our opponents time to settle in the game. It's very hard to score goals when the midfield and forwards are disjointed,” said Aussems.
Leopards lacked the services of his reliable central defenders Robinson Kamura, who was red-carded and Tedian Esilaba, who is injured.
This forced the coach to deploy his assistant captain Isaac KIpyegon in central defence and he did not disappoint.
Aussems called upon the players to rise up to occasions and and live up to the expectations of their fans. He described Vihiga United as fighters, saying they are likely to survive relegation if they maintain that kind of performance.