Football
Andrew Jackson Oryada Snr, KweséESPN 6y

Uganda: Desabre's problems like Guardiola's, says Onyango

Uganda skipper Denis Onyango believes that Sebastien Desabre's current problems with the Cranes are similar to Pep Guardiola's early struggles with Manchester City.

The East Africans have lost twice in the last eight days, being defeated 1-0 by the Central African Republic and 2-1 to Niger during the Three Nations tournament.

These defeats followed a 0-0 draw against Malawi and a 3-1 victory over Sao Tome e Principe, with Desabre appearing to take his time to establish his philosophy within the Cranes squad.

"[These are] tough times for us right now, and for the head coach, because he is trying to build his brand of football and yet it is also difficult changing players' mentality that quickly," Onyango told Press Box.

"We have seen it also with Manchester City, when Pep [Guardiola] came in as coach he did not win anything in the first season," the goalkeeper added, "but he has turned the team round and now they are winning.

"I think we need time with the new coach as well.

"We are building a new team and we need to give the new coach a chance," Onyango continued. "His mission is to take us back to the African Cup of Nations and we must be supportive to him and try to comfort him to make his work easier."

Before his recent underwhelming results, Desabre had overseen a disappointing African Nations Championship campaign in which Uganda crashed out in the first round.

The Frenchman had been appointed in December as the long-term successor to Milutin Sredojevic.

"We have a lot of youngsters," Onyango continued. "It's just me and Hassan Wasswa who have been around longer, but generally we are building.

"It is unfortunate that we play Tanzania in September in a 2019 AFCON qualifier, and this will be a lot of pressure for us because we are home and the coach will be in charge for his first competitive game."

Uganda lead Group L after picking a 1-0 win away to Cape Verde last year, as well as Tanzania, they will also have to battle Lesotho for a spot in Cameroon 2019.

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