AmaZulu coach Arthur Zwane has correlated his team’s recent habit of easily conceding goals to the opposition to NGO Gift of the Givers.
The KwaZulu-Natal team have conceded 32 goals so far in the league and are ranked second behind Marumo Gallants who top the unpleasant charts at 33.
The stats, Zwane acknowledged, were unimpressive and meant the team had to backtrack on their target of top four as set by club chair Sandile Zungu when we assigned Zwane the hot seat earlier in the season.
Usuthu handed a 2-1 victory to Chippa United on Saturday at Buffalo City Stadium in East London.
The game, in which AmaZulu had 65% possession, was their third successive loss.
When asked why his side were struggling to get results despite being the dominant team on occasions, Zwane said their “mentality” was the issue.
“Chippa is one game we should’ve got three points on, but we conceded goals that we should’ve have. That has been the story of our season: we are Gift of the Givers,” a frustrated Zwane said.
“It is a case of mentality. You look, for instance at the chances the players create — it is sometimes that the awareness is not there. We try to rectify these things but they are still haunting us and they are very costly ... it was chain of mistakes even in the Chippa game,” he said.
Though AmaZulu’s form is off slightly, they are still within the top eight, at seventh position with 30 points in 24 matches, to be precise.
They are one point from Kaizer Chiefs and two points adrift from Chippa, who have three games in hand.
“We are in the top eight already ... but now what is happening is we are putting ourselves under pressure. We gave Chippa a life line to be closer to us.
“If we don’t win the next game we are out of top eight. Our target is position number four [as] set by the president, but those chances keep fading because we keep hurting ourselves,” Zwane said.
AmaZulu have six games left in the league, including against title-contesting Orlando Pirates and an away fixture to third-placed Stellenbosch.
In those games, Zwane wants his team to increase their anticipation in defence, and be aggressive going forward, if they are to achieve their season aspirations.
Daily Dispatch
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