Prime
Coach Mubiru keen to polish Police defending
Police left back Arafat Galiwango (L) vies for the ball with Express’ Shafiq Avemah during a topflight in the just concluded season. Coach Mubiru wants to improve the quality of Katongole and his mates. PHOTO BY JOHN BATANUDDE
KAMPALA- Exuberance defines Police’s game so is shoddy defending that see them concede a lot of soft goals.
124 goals ferried in the previous 85 league games, have made the team so uncomfortable at the back.
Abdallah Mubiru, who has been in charge feels he has had enough time to put all the pieces of the puzzle together without compromising the attractive rand of football he prefers.
Mubiru has revealed that his focus will be to tighten up Police’s defence saying the thought of making additions to his squad was not at all appealing.
“First of all, we need to control games more often,” Mubiru said.
The 2005 champions have looked vulnerable at the back with results from the past three seasons reflecting Police as uncomfortable in defence. The highlight last season was the 5-3 loss to Express in October before replying with a 6-1 triumph in the second round.
Police have been made to sweat in most games.
Having finished 13th this season, only champions Vipers, KCCA, Villa and Bul scored more goals as Police saw the net 33 times, including the three that were deducted for missing the game against Onduparaka. But they were undone by their own shortcomings in defence conceding 37 goals to emerge as the fourth-joint worst defence alongside Express. Only relegated Maroons (41), Tooro (39) and Proline (38) were worse.
Given their exuberant display, Mubiru prefers a three-man defence. But he is keen to see an improvement next season.
“I am confident that our attack needs to be consolidated. We are excellent in that department. But next season I want to try to improve our defending because honestly our scoring can take us to the top five,” he says.
In the 2018/19 season, only Vipers (61) scored more goals with Police having the second-best attack (41). But they kept the clean sheet in just four games out of the 30.
Sharp attacks
The same story goes back to the 2017/18 season as Vipers (50) and KCCA (54) scored more goals. Police had the third sharpest attack with 31 goals.
In the previous season, Police produced the league’s top scorer, Juma Balinya, while Ben Ocen was one goal shy of top scorer Steven Mukwala (13).
While the spotlight falls on central defenders Henry Katongole, Joseph Ssentume, Sylvester Ssemakula, Allan Katwe as well as Arafat Galiwango, Dennis Rukundo, Bashir Kabuye and Tonny Kiwalaze, Mubiru
insists the shoddy defending cannot be blamed on the back four alone.
“In modern football, any good team defends together. Whereas we need reinforcements, we must work more as a team,” he added.
But his woes may not be ending soon as Katongole, who played all 25 games last season is rumoured to be on his way out with sources linking him to a Rwandan Premier League club.
