Abara: How I changed Tornadoes’ mentality

Hamza Abara has explained to SportingLife.ng the method he adopted to resuscitate Niger Tornadoes FC of Minna from total collapse.

Abara, who was the club’s former Chief Coach replaced Erasmus Onu as technical adviser, due to the club’s dwindling
performance in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) this season.

Abara led the Ikoh Allah side to a 1-0 victory against Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries FC of Lagos in a matchday 19 encounter in Minna on Sunday.

The win over MFM made it nine matches without a loss since he took over the mantle of the leadership of the team, winning five matches and drawing 4.

“The recruitment had been done before I took over the team and there was no time to get new players, which means we have to wait until mid-transfer window before we bring in new players to fortify the team. Majority of these players are from the Nigeria National League (NNL) and amateur teams and they were used to that system. So when I took over I had to change their mentality and told them that they can’t play under one coach for life,” Abara told SportingLife.ng

He added: “Initially, it was difficult for them to change to the new system but with constant talking they are gradually getting use to it. Even under Coach Erasmus, he was just unlucky that the results were not coming, but he tried his best too. When I was working under him, I discovered that the players found it difficult to cope with his style of play but I had to change their mentality when I took over. We have not achieved anything yet because I still believe that there are more things to be done to reach our target.”

Speaking on the MFM game, Abara said: “We have studied their style of play before the game and we got the result. We had to play them on the counter and it worked for us.”