CHICKEN INN’S new coach Rahman Gumbo is working to restore a winning mentality, which seems to have deserted the team, seeing the Premier Soccer League champions losing three matches on the trot.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
Gumbo wants to restore confidence in the team and wants the players to change their attitude, as he seeks to realign a campaign that has suddenly gone off the rails.
The Castle Lager Premier Soccer League champions have lost to ZPC Kariba, Bulawayo City and Triangle in the first six matches of the season.
The former Warriors coach has noted that the squad lacks endurance, which has prompted him to introduce an extra training session each day.
“If you look at the whole thing at the moment; the boys’ endurance is not up to standard,” Gumbo said yesterday.
“They have been struggling to last full matches and that is why we have been conceding goals in the dying moments of the matches and now we have to work on that. But the good thing is I have somewhere to start. We have to get the confidence of the whole team back. The last three matches have taken their toll on the guys’ belief, they need to recover that confidence. We need to restore that confidence.”
He believes the team placed too much focus on the Caf Champions League, where they were bundled out in the preliminary stage by South African giants, Mamelodi Sundowns and they lost their spark in the local league.
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“When they played Sundowns, they were showing a lot of spark, but after that they have been going down and you can see that maybe the focus was on the Champions League more than on the domestic league. Now we have to get their focus back on the domestic league. Small teams like Monomotapa, Gunners, AmaZulu won the league and after that they folded. It has been the trend and I have been telling the guys that they must guard against that,” Gumbo said.
He has no doubt about the quality of players at his disposal, but only wants the attitude to change.
“Chicken Inn could not have just won the championship from nothing. They were a good side. There is quality in this team but the problem, maybe, was the wrong attitude. Some guys have this mentality that this team wants me and some are saying I play for the defending champions and you just walk into the ground and win. Games are not won like that. You have to win a game by fighting. They have to work extra hard because all the other 15 teams in the league are planning on beating the champions,” Gumbo said.
Yesterday he said he is likely to make some changes to the squad when the transfer window opens in July.
“The (transfer) window period is coming up. We have to wait and see if there are any players moving. Obviously, we have to make some few changes. We have so many players, who were not registered but are part of the squad. I have to take a look at all the players and make a decision to see if they are good enough,” Gumbo said.
His first match in charge will be against new boys Mutare City Rovers at Sakubva Stadium on Sunday.
