Pollack wants sluggish Gor to show continental mettle

Gor Mahia head coach Steve Pollack says they must improve in order to match their recent continental success after watching his side labour to dispatch Zoo Kericho yesterday.

Gor needed a late Boniface Omondi winner to edge Zoo 1-0 as the Kenyan Premier League champions maintained a 100 percent start to their domestic campaign at Nakuru’s Afraha Stadium.

But they were hardly convincing and it took the intervention of the post to keep Zoo shut out and Pollack admitted he was unimpressed.

“A few of these players have to look at themselves and say did I play at the level that I can or have been playing?
“Overall I’m happy with the result but we have to improve our decision making, keep it simple, improve our movement and the quality of passes. The defence played well, they soaked it up and hardly gave them any chance,” the Englishman said.

Pollack joined Gor at the start of the new season to replace Hassan Oktay and has won all four of his opening KPL matches following previous victories against Tusker FC, KCB FC and Nzoia Sugar.

Oktay and his predecessor Dylan Kerr enjoyed decent continental runs and Pollack says he is aware he will be judged against those standards despite losing key players including Jacques Tuyisenge and Francis Kahata during the transfer window.

“I think that’s a question you have to ask the players because it surprised me because we’ve had a good training session and they looked really sharp. It could be they’re tired or aren’t eating well; things that have nothing to do with their abilities on the pitch.
“They looked sluggish in the first half but came out a lot better because I gave them a good talk during the break. It wasn’t much better so we decided now is the time to make some changes and I felt we sort of clicked into gear.

“The last game we played well on Wednesday and although we lost against USM we were also good on the ball. This was not at that level but because it’s a new coach and a lot of new players we have to try and get some momentum,” Pollack said.

Gor were dumped out of the CAF Champions League first round suffering a 6-1 aggregate loss against USM Alger, dropping to the Confederation Cup where they have been placed in Pot B of the draws.

Pollack, who departed the country on Sunday for his native Britain to visit family and friends, says the international break will give his charges time to rejuvenate.

“I feel the international break is going to do us good because they have a few days to rest and then we can work on a few things.”