George Maluleka, a midfielder for AmaZulu, says the team needed a wake-up call following an amazing start to the season after the club’s lone loss against Golden Arrows two weeks ago.
AmaZulu have become one of the season’s most dangerous teams. They are currently achieving the anticipated performances and results on the field after their massive recruiting drive in preparation for the upcoming season.
AmaZulu is presently in third position in the Premiership rankings, two points behind Richards Bay, who are in first place but still have a game remaining.
One of the club’s most seasoned players, Maluleka, believes AmaZulu needed that message of humility as a minor case of hubris began to permeate into their game. This season, AmaZulu have only lost once, losing 1-0 to Durban rivals Arrows.
“That game (against Arrows) gave us a proper wake-up call because if I’m being honest, heading into that game we were very complacent which is normal with us football players,” said Maluleka
“But we try extremely hard to work on the mental aspect of the game so we avoid being complacent but we got a good wake-up call and it arrived at the right time as well at the beginning of the season, a period where it’s very important to collect as many points as we can.”
AmaZulu are one of the teams in contention to claim the PSL’s Quarter One (Q1) innovation reward following their form in the opening period of the season.
Although AmaZulu are placed as one of the teams at the top of the log, the 33-year-old Maluleka downplayed the form of Usuthu, insisting that they haven’t even reached the levels they expect to.
“I wouldn’t say we’re on-form at the moment because we haven’t really played the kind of football that we want to play, but grinding out results has helped us a lot and that’s why we’re one of the teams up top,” said Maluleka.
“It’s very important that we keep at it, we keep the fighting spirit because as the games come think and fast we’ll be able to find our rhythm as a team because we’re a very good team but we just haven’t shown the playing quality we have at our disposal.”