Durban — AmaZulu midfielder George Maluleka has taken the club’s only defeat of the season to Golden Arrows, two weeks ago, on the chin, and believes it was the perfect wake-up call they needed after an impressive start.
AmaZulu have emerged as one the most dangerous teams this season. Following their huge recruitment drive ahead of the new campaign, they are now producing the desired performances and results on the field.
AmaZulu currently occupy third place on the Premiership standings, just two points off leaders Richards Bay who have a game in hand.
AmaZulu’s only defeat this season came from familiar opposition as they went down 1-0 to Durban rivals Arrows, and one of the club’s most experienced stars – Maluleka – feels they needed that reminder of humility as a slight case of arrogance started to seep into their game.
"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."
IOL Sport