A full 16 percent of all goals scored in the six-week Ghana Premier League are penalties – corresponding to 15 goals – a phenomenon league watchers have described as very high.

SuperSport’s television arm has shown live matches of one game every matchday so far, and three of the channel’s pundits – Nana Kwaku Agyemang, Christopher Opoku and Albert Ababio – have tried to explain the high figures.

Technique “Some of the penalties that were given should not have been. They’ve been down to errors,” Nana Agyemang told SuperSport.com. Also aholder of a UEFA License B certificate and a Level 1 and 2 coaching educator, Nana Agyemang believes a lack of tactical and technical discipline is a factor.

Albert Ababio is also a pitchside analyst for the live games and went further. “It is looking like defenders are not too smart when dealing with strikers, who seem to be thinking faster. In the Berekum Arsenals match against Kotoko for instance, Mohamed Awal brought a player down when it was quite unnecessary.”

Christopher Opoku, head of the television broadcast team also took a different angle on the same point. “It is carry-on from happenings in previous seasons, where defenders were not punished for hacking and tackling poorly in the penalty box. It is confirmation to them that defending is not all about brawn. More scrutiny and better officiating has brought out the worst culprits.”

Officiating While Opoku gave plaudits to referees for calling out previously pardonable offenses in the penalty box, he and the two other pundits were unanimous that there had been some poor decisions made so far, too.

“Some games have seen poor officiating and bad calls, especially the Edubiase – Dwarfs game that saw two dodgy penalties awarded,” said Albert Ababio.

Nana Agyemang was however quick to jump to the defense of the authorities for trying to bring order into refereeing this season. “Despite the fact that we’ve had wrong calls leading to some dodgy penalties, we’ve seen match officials being given suspensions for poor work done, which could be a good sign.

But we still have issues where some penalties are given because some match officials are just not fit enough to keep up with play.”

Solutions?

But how can the league’s players avoid being caught up in situations that get spot kicks awarded against them? “Players must learn how to take the ball from the opponent without fouling them,” said Opoku.

Then again, the art of defending in such instances remains a serious problem even in the best leagues in the world, as Albert Ababio, also a sports broadcaster for close to a decade, explains.

“Sometimes these penalties happen because defenders are in two minds. When an attacker is heading towards goal, the last man or the goalkeeper feels better off going for a professional fouls rather than allowing the opponent to score.”

Other areas of improvement mentioned included emphasis on getting to the ball first before tackling, opening up in aerial-tackles and more training in the art of sliding to get the ball and not the man.

More work to do The element of the 12th man comes to bear, it seems. Nana Agyemang argued that sometimes referees have given decisions “to appease a vitriolic type of crowd” in order that they do not get abused.

Whatever it is, with sixteen percent of goals scored so far being penalties, it does not reflect well on the potential prolific nature of the league. It means goals from open play, especially free kicks, and counter-attacks, continue to be in the minority. Sixteen penalties have been awarded, with fifteen scored. Bechem United’s Peter Ofori-Quaye missed his kick against Aduana Stars.