Charles Akonnor’s men made amends for their horror show last Friday with a ruthless performance against Qatar at the Mardan Sports Complex in Antalya, Turkey.

The Black Stars lost 3-0 to Mali on Friday but recorded a 5-1 victory against the Maroons on Monday.

The performance was good all round and will bring smiles to the face of Akonnor, a man who was under early pressure to get a result.

Here are five talking points from the game.

Thomas Partey better in a double pivot

In the previous match against Mali, Thomas Partey was played in a three-man midfield and was given the most advanced role among them.

He went relatively quiet in that one but in this match against Qatar, he was heavily involved when he was played in a double pivot with Iddrisu Baba.

With Baba being the muscle, Partey was afforded the freedom to control the tempo from deep and it was pleasing to the eye. He also gave two brilliant assists on the day. Akonnor should use him in this role more frequently.

Tariq Fosu may have just nailed the left wing spot

The Brentford man was played as a right-back in the previous game and did well. In this match, he went a step further performance-wise.

He was involved in the build-up play, confident on the ball, made good runs off the ball and was rewarded with a goal after some great work from Jordan Ayew minutes before the half-hour mark.

The 25-year-old has shown that he should be a regular in the side for the foreseeable future.

Andre Ayew more comfortable in the middle

In the previous friendly match, Andre was deployed on the right-wing and had a poor outing. He was easily stopped by his marker on numerous occasions. The skipper, after finding himself in the number 10 role, saw his output increase.

The Swansea man was all over the pitch and was rewarded eventually with a goal. It may do him a world of good if he continues to play in that role as he gets a lot of space to work with.

Black Stars need to improve their high line tactic

In a high line, two key things are done by teams; applying pressure to centre-backs and having a good sweeper keeper to clear the danger. In Qatar’s goal, the team failed on both fronts.

Andre and Jordan left the centre-backs open with enough time to play a long pass to Abdullah who beat Joseph Aidoo in the speed race. Ablalora also displayed terrible goalkeeping with the way he came off the line.

The goal came against the run of play and just before the half time whistle. The team will need to work on that more in future matches.

Akonnor’s changes improved the team collectively

Despite a few lapses and the goal conceded, the Black Stars showed huge improvement against Qatar. The wings were barely troubled by the Maroons, Ghana had more control in the middle and managed to create a host of good chances.

CK Akonnor also made some good personnel and tactical changes ahead of the game and it helped in grabbing a positive result. It is only a friendly and there is more room for improvement but today’s performance was encouraging against the 2019 Asian Cup winners.

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