Gambia coach Tom Saintfiet has lambasted Gambian journalists for being too critical of his coaching tactics during a pre-match press conference in Ivory Coast today. 

The Belgian tactician has come under heavy criticism among Gambian football pundits and fans for his “poor” coaching tactics on social media.

But Saintfiet blamed Gambian journalists for influencing the minds of both the players and fans to criticise his tactics.

His feud against the country’s journalists came a day as the Scorpions face off Guinea side on Friday aim a must win match to stand any chance of making it into knockout stages. 

Sainfiet accused Gambian journalists of trying to embarrass him in front of the international media.

“You Gambian Journalists are trying to influence the mindset of the fans, the players, and other people. When we win you are happy but when we lose, I am the worst coach in the history of the Gambia. When I defend we win matches you celebrate but when I attack and we concede a lot of goals I am the worst coach,” he said.

“Let me tell you this before I came to the Gambia. The Gambia didn’t win a match for 5 years. Don’t forget the Gambian League is not a professional league. Some players are paid less than 50 dollars a month. We never qualified for the AFCON and now we are here. You people think that we can beat everyone, you think we cannot be beaten,” he added.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba