Milovan Rajevac is convinced that one of the main reasons for Ghana’s defeat to Libya was the team’s inability to produce a desire to win.
Now, the Serbian is now searching for the right blend to give Ghana more bite and secure them a place in the next phase of the qualifiers.
Libya knew they had come across a good opposition with a Ghana line up including Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari and Laryea Kingston looking threatening to deflate their hopes of nearing the final phase of the 2010 qualifiers.
But they produced a strong performance which proved to be the unsettling effect on the Black Stars as Ghana went down 0-1 in Tripoli on Friday, a night when the Stars lost their shine.
Ghana did not approach their normal standards as they struggled to even hold out for a draw and it typifies a strange pattern in Ghana’s play that Milovan Rajevac would try to remedy.
The Serbian’s first competitive game for Ghana did not produce what he expected days before the match when he talked about his players’ desire to win.
Milovan Rajevac after the game told KickOffGhana.com that his team had not showed the desire required to win a game of this nature.
There had been talk of the formation introduced by Milovan, setting out his team in the 4-2-3-1 formation from the much talked about 4-4-2 which had become accustomed to many fans but he claimed the problem was not the system.
“The formation is not a problem because you only play with the players you have,” he said.
Milovan’s own career has seen him implore the same strategy and though he has stated that the 4-2-3-1 is his preferred formation, he says would have to look at his players again in training sessions before setting them up with the right system.
“It was very hard. I will see and find the right formation and right system for them. There were some players I saw for the first time during the game. It will be much better when I see them again in more training sessions before working up formations and systems.”
The Black Stars coach says it was not about the system used last Friday but believes their opponents had much desire to win.
“But yesterday (Friday) it was not about the system. Whatever system we played, they probably would have won because their wish for victory was bigger than ours because they run for ninety minutes and dominated everything.”
The Serbian mentioned no names but he spoke of his disappointment at the inability of some of his players to live up to the game on the night.
Despite the display, he had praise for his center backs comprising Eric Addo and Jonathan Quartey of Kaizer Chiefs.
“There was no problem with the centre backs, they played very well but there were problems with the other areas in the first block, in the attacking line and in midfield.”