THE Assistant Coach of Warri Wolves Football Club, Nosike Onyewuchi, on Sunday said the club’s technical crew would still be working on the players in order to achieve their targets.
Onyewuchi, while speaking on the sidelines of the 2014/2015 Super 4 Invitational Tournament in Abuja, said they needed to work on the players’ “slow rate of warming into a game’’.
He said the technical crew needed to achieve this ahead of their 2015 Confederations Cup match against Racing Club de Bobo (RCB) of Burkina Faso mid-February.
The newsmen reports that the Warri Wolves lost their first three games in the six-team tournament played at the Abuja National Stadium.
They however went on to win their last two games to end up with six points from a possible 15 in five matches.
Onyewuchi said the club’s technical crew noticed that the players picked up very late during matches and that this could be detrimental to the team.
He said the defect was however a psychological one that must be worked on for a good outing in the Confederations Cup competition.
“It is obvious now that we are now getting it right, compared to when the tournament started and this is because our players are now fit.
“This last victory (2-1 against Dolphins on Sunday) is a good indicator to that. But, having watched all the matches, we have now discovered that fitness is not our only problem.
“It is clear now that we are late starters because all the goals we conceded were either in the first half, and particularly in the early minutes of the matches.
“And this will not be too good for us by the time the continental competition starts. So, we will work on that so as to be better off and have a good outing,’’ Onyewuchi said.
The Warri Wolves assistant coach also said the technical crew would work on the players’ goal scoring abilities as they were not perfect enough.
The team failed to score in their second and third games, scored a goal in their first game, and three in their fourth match.
They however scored two in their fifth match, for a total number of six in five matches, while conceding six in same number of matches.
“Another aspect we have to work on is goal scoring, because we lost a lot of chances and this shouldn’t be so.
“We will have to work on that and perfect it also before our match in two weeks’ time.
“By the time we look at these two aspects and some other things, I am sure we will represent Nigeria well on the continent,’’ Onyewuchi said.
He however noted that the club would be better off with two or more strikers if the club management could get them for the team.
“Our inability to put away the chances we got shows that we need strikers. So, if the club management can get two or more strikers for us before our match, it will be a plus to us.
“This is because it is frustrating to create chances and no one on ground to score goals,’’ Onyewuchi said.
The club lost 1-2 to Dream Team VI, and 0-1 each to Enyimba and Flying Eagles.
But they went on to whip 2013/2014 league winners Kano Pillars 3-1, before beating Dolphins 2-1 in their final match.
The club is using the tournament to prepare for their 2015 Confederations Cup fixture against Racing Club de Bobo of Burkina Faso.
The first leg match of the fixture comes up in Burkina Faso on the weekend of February 13 and February 15, while the second leg match will be played in Nigeria.