So Zesco United yesterday slumped to a 2-1 home defeat at home to Mufulira Wanderers at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.
An schoolboy error by defender Mathews Chabala just three minutes allowed Maite to take the lead through Joseph Tumbwe before John Foloko extended his side’s lead after utilizing acres of space left by Zachariah Chilongoshi on the right flank.
Club top scorer Amine Hiver came off the bench and scored a scorching free-kick as the Chadian attempted to rescue Zesco from defeat.
Yesterday’s loss was Zesco’s 8th in 18 matches played in the league so far, a star that doesn’t tally with the pedigree and status of Zesco in the divison.
Zesco are breathing fire against head coach Emmanuel Siwale due to the team’s lack of consistency in delivering favourable results.
Zesco fans concerns are justifiable as the team’s performances or track of results do not reflect what is expected of a big club like this one.
Simply, Emmanuel Siwale, the rest of the coaching staff as well as some players must take responsibility for their inefficiencies.
For instance in yesterday’s match, I think Siwale showed a clear lack of decisiveness in his team selection given the number of substitutions he had to make in a short period of time.
Mathews Chabala has been in and out of the Zesco starting eleven due to his sluggishness with ball possession and he was clearly not any better against Zanaco, so why start him again only to waste a substitution?
Shemmy Mayembe remains one of the few players in the team that have showed any form of consistency, so why is always dropped and only brought back after players started in his position make mistakes?
It happened against Kaizer Chiefs when he was brought on for Benedict Chepeshi & yesterday for Chilongoshi after the two players committed errors respectively.
Amine Hiver, the club’s leading scorer, was rested in a crucial match against Zanaco last Thursday, only for the Chadian to come on & score a vital goal to win the match for Zesco.
Then again yesterday, Hiver was benched and brought on in the second half and the Chadian bagged a goal again leaving questions about why he was not started.
After so many games it is understandable Siwale & his technical bench will have to apply squad rotation to manage the players’ fitness but this is a crucial point of the season and gambling with team selection will be more detrimental.
Zesco are too many points behind their expected places and consistency with results are what the fans and perhaps even the ExCo are demanding from Siwale & co.
I also feel some of the players in team need to take responsibility and improve on their inconsistencies, even those who were not part of the squad yesterday because the team also lost some games while they were fully involved.
Results are what fans are demanding, if they don’t come consistently…Siwale & company may know well that they will be sitting at the knife edge.
I submit.
Wami Katanga
