diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
index 98ab6b08fd..53bc05fb27 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
@@ -148,9 +148,6 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
 
         if self._play_context.verbosity > 3:
             self._command += ['-vvv']
-        elif binary == self._play_context.ssh_executable:
-            # Older versions of ssh (e.g. in RHEL 6) don't accept sftp -q.
-            self._command += ['-q']
 
         # Next, we add [ssh_connection]ssh_args from ansible.cfg.
 
@@ -611,7 +608,7 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
                 if return_tuple[0] != 255:
                     break
                 else:
-                    raise AnsibleConnectionFailure("Failed to connect to the host via ssh.")
+                    raise AnsibleConnectionFailure("Failed to connect to the host via ssh: %s" % to_native(return_tuple[2]))
             except (AnsibleConnectionFailure, Exception) as e:
                 if attempt == remaining_tries - 1:
                     raise