AmaZulu head coach Romain Folz delivered a brutal assessment of his players following their Carling Black Label Cup drubbing at the hands of Mamelodi Sundowns.
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Usuthu did well to beat off competition from Swallows to be included in the unique spectacle that saw four teams in Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Sundowns contest a one-day tournament as voted for by the fans.
But the joy for Usuthu was short-lived as they were handed a comprehensive 3-0 defeat in the very first match at the hands of the Brazilians who bossed proceedings from the first minute to the very last.
Following the defeat, the 32-year-old coach identified the players' conditioning as the biggest issue facing the KZN outfit, saying not even the tactics of the great Pep Guardiola would work on their current fitness levels.
"I think it's one thing to want to implement something, it's another thing to have the legs and the capacity to do it," Folz told journalists after the game.
"I feel like most of our players are not ready physically. When you face a team that is good on the ball like that and make you play right and left and move the ball very quickly and doesn't hold the ball too long, that means the ball is moving a lot and you have a lot of runs to do off the ball.
"If you are not ready, I can give you the best instruction that I want or it can come from Pep Guardiola if you want, if the engine is not responding, you are not going to do anything, okay?
"So that for me is the biggest assessment. I knew that because that's the assessment I had on week one, that our capacity to repeat the effort is low and that coming here to face teams that are very much capable to move the ball, at that very moment in time, you will struggle for sure," he said.
Folz says he will use the next few weeks to fine tune his tactics and work on his squad's physical condition as they gear up for the second half of the season, which resumes in December.
"That's why I said after eight days of being in the job, our biggest challenge is going to be to rebuild everyone physically when the break happens, so that's gonna be one of our first missions and I'm positive that after the break our capacity to answer those challenges are going to be much better," he concluded.
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