Soccer News of Thursday, 13 January 2011

Source: GNA

"Gyan will be alone upfront" - Stevanovic

Accra, Jan. 13, GNA - Head Coach of Ghana's Black Stars, Goran Stevanovic intends to play Sunderland's marksman, Asamoah Gyan at the top when he begins work on February 1.

The Serbian says systems per se "do not play football; it is the players that make the systems work", but insists Gyan is capable of serving Ghana better playing alone in attack.

Stevanovic loves 4-1-4-1 and 4-5-1 systems which will have the Sunderland striker play as the lone attacker but the coach is hoping Gyan's efficiency will improve with a compact midfield.

"We have to dominate the midfield and play more attacking while cautious with defending. That way we will be winning the trophies again. The time to win the trophies is now."

The Coach said he has enough quality in the team to deliver, claiming his only challenge will be motivating the players to believe in themselves again.

"All I have to do is to motivate the players and that is a difficult challenge because the players have achieved so much already.

"I will have to make them understand that it is okay to be second, third, fourth or even fifth but truly, we all gather to be first and that i= s what we must fight for."

Stevanovic who is on 30,000 pounds a month salary becomes the third Serbian to manage the Black Stars in six years span.

Stevanovic, a Yugoslav international spent most of his playing career at Partizan Belgrade before spells at Clubs in Spain, Portugal and Greece and also coached Partizan Belgrade to the Serbian League title last season.