Africa-Press – Uganda. Who calls the actual shots at Vipers? That is the foremost pertinent question that many football stakeholders keep on asking.
The answers, usually in murmurs and sometime half baked, expound the blurred football pattern engulfing the club at the moment.
It took Vipers immediate boss Roberto Oliveira aka Robertinho, who acrimoniously left Kitende on December 29 last year to join Simba, a spirited fight to lay bare the Venoms’ heap of dirty linen.
Beto Bianchi’s coaching credentials at the big stage are now questionable – and he admitted that he is yet to comprehend the potential of most of Vipers players.
The players too seem not to understand his phylosophy, if he has one and the club is at crossroads just when the season enters a determinant bend.
The adoring fans, binned the floodlights excitement and left in hushed tones some swearing never to return if nothing drastically changes.
Simba’s 1-0 win over Vipers at the St Mary’s Stadium-Kitende on Saturday night not only temporarily saved Robertinho’s job but also sent a message to the hundreds inside well lit stadium and thousands watching on telly, that the stage fright of the maiden Caf Champions League group stage and finally caught up with the Venoms.
Their fate is almost sealed after three rounds at the grand stage.
As it stands, they are rock bottom of Group C with just on point from three matches while the Tanzanians are third with three points ahead of the return leg in Dar es Salaam on March 7.
Morocco giants Raja Casablanca, as expected, lead the group with nine points after overcoming Horoya of Guinea 2-0 on Saturday in Casablanca.
Transfer mess
Vipers top management must be rueful of the botched attempt to recruit ‘professionals’, as is the norm with Caf bigwigs, to beef up their continental engagement.
Bianchi arrived in January to meet a cluster of Congolese mercenaries, a Nigerian, an Angolan and an Ivorian paraded by the club awaiting his fine-tuning into continental beaters.
As it turned out, players like Alfred Mudekereza, Miguel Lutumba, Desire Tety, Darcy Mbaka, Serge Mwenge, Abubakar Lawal have proved to be tepid to say the least forcing Bianchi to give Ugandans a chance to bail him out in the game of his life.
It is reported that Vipers fell in love with the Congolese legion (of about eight players now) after the Cesar Manzoki’s near-success story but after a regrettable investment, management is set for a rethink.
Bianchi’s attacking dilemma
This must be the Brazilian-Spanish’s worst start as a gaffer since 2004 when he broke his coaching teeth.
In reality and in context, at a club as big as Vipers — the league holders and one of the most funded—going going six matches without collecting the ball from the back of the net is criminal and arouses suspicion.
For 540 minutes, forwards Milton Karisa, Yunus Sentamu, Karim Ndugwa, Desire Tety, Darcy Mbaka, Ibrahim Orit and Martin Kizza can’t breach any sort of defence – horrible.
The defence also stands at sixes and sevens most of the time as evidenced when Simba defender Henock Ikonga Baka scored the only goal of the game at Kitende on 21 minutes.
With Murushid Juuko and Issa Mubiru missing, Hillary Mukundane and Livingstone Mulondo misread the flight of the ball which enabled Simba forward Moses Phiri to set up Ikonga at the far post to bundle in from close range.
Put succinctly, Vipers are not good at anything at the moment, and deserve all the ridicule.
Rusty ‘stars’
The hullabaloo that greeted midfielder Abdu Lumala’s arrival from Egypt died out on the first day he donned the red and black of Vipers.
His insatiable hobnobbing with the surgeon’s table, coupled with sketchy return on the pitch have rubbed the fans the wrong way.
Not much has come from other season signings Marvin Youngman, Cromwell Rwothomio,Kizza and Karim Ndugwa.
The usual dressing-room disharmony that precipitates most foreign coaches sackings at Kitende, at times caused by lack of playing time, is creeping through and has seen players like Rwothomio reportedly go AWOL at the time of need.
Worse still, Sentamu is a shadow of his scoring self after he returned from a two-month injury made worse by Bianchi’s gambling on which position the forward suits best.
No leader
Over the last 12 years when Vipers have wrapped up five StarTimes Uganda Premier League titles and two Stanbic Uganda Cup trophies, their were inspired by natural born leaders.
From Robert Kimuli, Nicholas Wadada, Farouk Miya,Tadeo Lwanga, to Halid Lwaliwa, the Venoms had players that lifted them from the pit to success.
As they surrendered to a Simba side, also gasping for life in Caf and league, Karisa lacked that zeal and so was his deputy Siraje Ssentamu.
It is now theoretically over on the continent yet the league retention bid is also in jeopardy with KCCA carrying a seven point cushion over Vipers.
Only time can tell whether they can salvage anything from the season that has gone haywire.
Vipers are back in action on Wednesday when they will embark on the dreaded trip to Barifa to face Arua Hill in the league.
For More News And Analysis About Uganda Follow Africa-Press
