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Premier League lacks quality finishers - Hyre
With a plethora of draws since the start of the Digicel Premier League (DPL) second round, ascendancy has been hard to come by, making the battle for the second End-of-Round final closer than expected and certainly much too early to call this time around.
However, the signals that point to this engaging battle do not speak to the quality of the league, according to Braxton Hyre, coach of the St Georges Sports Club who lie third on 31 points.
Shortly after watching his team collect its fourth draw of the round in a 0-0 performance against Sporting Central Academy at Brancourt on Sunday, Hyre told The Gleaner the quality of the league had been found wanting in an important regard.
"I think it is a difficult league but, in terms of overall quality, (it's) not there," Hyre opined.
He was very clear on the rationale behind his controversial summation.
"You have a lot of teams battling for the points, but if you notice, we are complaining about the same thing: the lack of quality players who can finish." Harbour View's Donavon Hayles and Sporting Central's Donovan
Duckie are other coaches who have expressed deep concern about their teams' goal drought.
'Short on quality'
"We are short on quality attacking players and it's a problem at every level," was Hyre's blunt assessment.
He also feels the only difference the Premier League offer is physical readiness.
To make his point, he drew reference to last Thursday's Portland Football Association Knockout final against Ujama, which his team won 6-0.
"We won 6-0 but when I look at the game at a technical level, the teams are not much different. They ran us well for the first 45 minutes but as their physical condition went, they were exposed."
That 6-0 win seemed to have had little effect on his team's attacking abilities against Sporting Central.
That apart, the schoolboy level, often the recruitment base for Premier League talent, does not hold much hope, according to Hyre.
"I watched some of the games and, from what I see, there may be 15 players or so you can point to with real quality, but that's probably less than five percent."
He isn't clear on all the solutions but feels better coaching at that level could change the prospects. The one bright spot for the league, he feels, is Tivoli Gardens. "Tivoli seems to be the one team that has players with better technical ability to finish. They have players who have a little edge on the others."
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...s/sports3.html
With a plethora of draws since the start of the Digicel Premier League (DPL) second round, ascendancy has been hard to come by, making the battle for the second End-of-Round final closer than expected and certainly much too early to call this time around.
However, the signals that point to this engaging battle do not speak to the quality of the league, according to Braxton Hyre, coach of the St Georges Sports Club who lie third on 31 points.
Shortly after watching his team collect its fourth draw of the round in a 0-0 performance against Sporting Central Academy at Brancourt on Sunday, Hyre told The Gleaner the quality of the league had been found wanting in an important regard.
"I think it is a difficult league but, in terms of overall quality, (it's) not there," Hyre opined.
He was very clear on the rationale behind his controversial summation.
"You have a lot of teams battling for the points, but if you notice, we are complaining about the same thing: the lack of quality players who can finish." Harbour View's Donavon Hayles and Sporting Central's Donovan
Duckie are other coaches who have expressed deep concern about their teams' goal drought.
'Short on quality'
"We are short on quality attacking players and it's a problem at every level," was Hyre's blunt assessment.
He also feels the only difference the Premier League offer is physical readiness.
To make his point, he drew reference to last Thursday's Portland Football Association Knockout final against Ujama, which his team won 6-0.
"We won 6-0 but when I look at the game at a technical level, the teams are not much different. They ran us well for the first 45 minutes but as their physical condition went, they were exposed."
That 6-0 win seemed to have had little effect on his team's attacking abilities against Sporting Central.
That apart, the schoolboy level, often the recruitment base for Premier League talent, does not hold much hope, according to Hyre.
"I watched some of the games and, from what I see, there may be 15 players or so you can point to with real quality, but that's probably less than five percent."
He isn't clear on all the solutions but feels better coaching at that level could change the prospects. The one bright spot for the league, he feels, is Tivoli Gardens. "Tivoli seems to be the one team that has players with better technical ability to finish. They have players who have a little edge on the others."
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...s/sports3.html
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