FOOTBALL analyst Stratton Palmer believes Tivoli Gardens’ problems are far from over despite ending their four-game losing streak with a mid-week victory at Brancourt.

The 2-0 win over Sporting Central Academy did little to help their title ambitions as they remain 11 points adrift of Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) leaders Portmore United.

While Palmer thinks the result will help to restore confidence within the squad, he reckons a lot more work needs to be done if they are to get back on track.

“This result will be good for their confidence on the training ground,” Palmer, host of KLAS FM’s daytime call-in programme The Sports Desk, told the Sunday Observer. “It will give them a boost as they look towards the next encounter.”

The defending champions have been uncharacteristically below par this season, winning six, drawing eight, while losing five of the 19 games played so far. They have also find goals hard to come by — scoring and conceding 18 times.

More than anything else, Palmer believes their problem lies in the centre of the park.

The West Kingston side lost midfield enforcer Jerry Walters to Arnett Gardens in the summer and, perhaps, their most creative player, Keammar Daley, to English League One outfit Preston North End.

“Sometimes with teams like those it just takes a magical moment to turn things around for them, but I think the coach would now have to look at his midfield orientation.

“Midfielders, to me, win matches because they bolster the defence in terms of the work they do and they also give credence to the attack.

“In that midfield you should have different composition of players. When Jerry Walters was there he really held things down and then the creative players around him could do what they wanted.

“Keammar Daley is one of the few really creative players we have in Jamaica. The other names on that list are Rohan Reid of Arnett Gardens and Jermaine Hue of Harbour View. His inclusion in the Tivoli team last year afforded Navion Boyd and others a little bit more freedom to run into spaces and to get the goals.”

Palmer added: “They will also need to look at some of the forwards they have. Roland Dean — a quality striker — hasn’t showed much, Mitchily Waul started well, but he got goal shy. I saw occasions when he should just tap in the ball and he turned away from goal.

“There’s something wrong with their confidence level; the psychology of the team needs to be updated.”

Palmer, a Football GPS pundit, also thinks that Glendon ‘Admiral’ Bailey’s new acquisitions have taken a lot more time to adapt to life at Tivoli than the coaching staff imagined.

The five-time league champions brought in the likes of Waul, Swaby, Marcelino Blackburn and Dwayne Holmes at the start of the season, before adding Parkes and Ranike Anderson to their roster at the start of the month.

Waul had a decent start to his Tivoli career, scoring five goals early, but seems to have hit a bump mid-way the campaign.

“Players who are normally at Tivoli… usually have a never-say-die attitude about them. Last year, they were winning games like Manchester United, even in the last five minutes, they always found a way to win,” he said.

“Now, they have a number of players from other areas — (Devon) Hodges, Romeo Parkes, who recently got two goals, and Mario Swaby — so it’s going to take some time for them to gel and even learn how to react to comments from spectators.”

Tivoli (28 points) will now look to continue their good start to the new year when they entertain Humble Lion (30) at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex on Sunday.

The beaten End-of-First-Round finalists are desperate for another victory to start a winning streak, while Humble Lion are looking to rebound from their mid-week defeat to Montego Bay United and enhance their own title ambitions.

“I would want to think that Tivoli would be under more pressure (to get the three points),” Palmer, a former Kingston College Manning Cup coach, reasoned.

“There’s a psychological thing to this game,” he continued. “(Humble Lion coach) Lenny Hyde is going there with a mindset to win because of his association with Tivoli and also the way in which he was dismissed. He would know of the Tivoli players, so that’s an advantage that he can work with.

“Tivoli, on the other hand, will be looking to make it two straight, therefore, pressure will be on them because they cannot afford to lose another game, especially at home.”

As it relates to Tivoli’s chances of retaining the RSPL title, Palmer said: “As it stands, they have a mountain to climb.

“This Portmore team is really playing well. They are a young bunch, but they seem to have (matured) and once they can maintain their fitness they will be very difficult to catch.

“You also have Montego Bay United… and Humble Lion who are playing well and could cause a lot of upsets, so a lead at this time is very important.

“Unless there are some radical changes, I don’t really see Tivoli clawing their way back.”