Under Pressure, Sfaxiens Need a Win Against JSK to Breathe
The matches follow one another and resemble each other for coach Mohamed Kouki and his team. The results are, like the performance on the field, far from satisfactory and convincing. The latest draw against USM, which has become CSS's bogey team in recent years with no defeat in 11 matches, confirmed that the progress, which the Sfaxian technician has been highlighting after each failed outing, is not evident to the fans of the "Black and White" team, who are strongly dissatisfied.
Initially under the spell, Mahdi Frikha and Tarek Salem are now increasingly convinced that Mohamed Kouki is on the verge of squandering all the capital of trust they had given him and appears more and more incompatible with the desired profile. After more than three months, the coach, who did not hesitate to affirm that his objective is to make the Sfaxian giant regain its DNA and its place as a podium team, has not managed to give CSS a new lease on life with an offensive and spectacular style of play, neither at home nor away. The last two 0-0 draws against Gabès and Monastir testify to the approximation of the proposed football.
How long will the CSS officials continue to give chance after chance to a technician who cannot compose well with the squad at his disposal and who continues to grope around to find the best formulas for a stable team with ideas and consistency in its game? In any case, today's match in Kairouan seems to be the last chance for Mohamed Kouki, who knows very well that his destiny is linked to a success this afternoon, which could erase everything.
Stabilizing the Team's Core
It's been eight matches since Mohamed Kouki has been multiplying his choices and varying his game plans. Sometimes during the match to liberate a position, as he did against USM when he substituted Mohamed Amine Ben Ali and converted Hicham Baccar into an axial player to give the lateral defender position to Ali Mâaloul. This change disrupted all the benchmarks and disrupted the already established system instead of correcting it. Moreover, while he had to try to increase the pressure on the visiting team's camp with more audacity in the offensive compartment, he maintained caution with post-by-post changes (a number 9 Omar Ben Ali in place of a point Emmanuel Ogbole, a defensive midfielder Firas Sekkouhi replacing Mohamed Trabelsi, and Nour Karoui who replaced Willy Onana).
This did not pay off in creating more opportunities and scoring goals. If he wants to secure the three points of salvation against JSK today, Mohamed Kouki must show more audacity in his starting choices and in his changes during the game to achieve a success that will be a great breath of fresh air for him and his team.
