Hughton Defends Inaki William Goal Drought

Head Coach Chris Hughton has defended forward Inaki William over his inability to register a goal to his name in Ghana’s colours despite making ten appearances for the country at the international level.

The Athletico Bilbao player made his debut for Ghana in September 2021, furthered with appearances at the World Cup and then during the just-ended Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers but is yet to find the back of the net.

At a presser on Monday, Hughton said Inaki cannot be blamed since the team always has limited time space to prepare and develop a strategy and formula of play.

“What we have with all of the players is a short period of time so if I answer the question in two ways: At club level, he plays in two positions but generally, he is a number nine, he is a centre-forward. At this moment in time and for a good part of the season, he is been playing on the right-hand side in a three.

“As regards the goals he scores and his performance, this is because what he is able to do at club is that he is able to have a day-to-day contact, day-to-day training and a way of playing that obviously suits the team.”

He affirmed that until the right formula is figured for Inaki to score, he cannot be faulted.

“What we can’t do is we can’t fault the work rate that he puts in. He is a player that is prepared to run behind. We just need to get the formulas right where we are able to provide him with the service and the service can come in two ways.

“Some of that is sporadic; we have games where we have had good possession in the middle of the park and look for runners. But probably as I said we need to find the right formulas to create chances for him. And up until this moment, we haven’t been able to do that.”