"You get open chances and you fluff those chances - not at this level. It is not good for football. We will be very hard on the individuals and make sure that the supporters who pay their money to watch, will get value for money. Players must give 100%," he said.
"I mean there are players like Lindonkuhle Mbatha (scorer of Highlands' goal) who ran his soul out and fought his heart out, Peter Shalulile and Bevan Fransman; they worked so hard, only to be let down by other players. I don't think it is fair."
Da Gama added that some big teams may be tapping up his stars, hence the under-performance.
"There are big teams who are tampering with one or two of our players and this is obviously unsettling. We've big contracts with our players. There is no player for sale at Highlands Park, and we've made that clear that no player is going anywhere."
Da Gama slams Lions players'
Harsh as it may sound, the truth is some of Highlands Park players' performance against AmaZulu on Tuesday was akin to a man chasing a rabbit and when they are about to catch it, they advise it to run for dear life.
They just did not look like a side that wanted to win. Somehow one would assume Highlands took pity on Usuthu and wanted them to win because of their current precarious position in the Absa Premiership.
Highlands created several scoring chances but ended up losing the game 2-1 - their first defeat at home this season.
"Players should man-up," said visibly agitated coach Owen Da Gama, whose side will be at home again to Cape Town City on Saturday afternoon.
"You get open chances and you fluff those chances - not at this level. It is not good for football. We will be very hard on the individuals and make sure that the supporters who pay their money to watch, will get value for money. Players must give 100%," he said.
"I mean there are players like Lindonkuhle Mbatha (scorer of Highlands' goal) who ran his soul out and fought his heart out, Peter Shalulile and Bevan Fransman; they worked so hard, only to be let down by other players. I don't think it is fair."
Da Gama added that some big teams may be tapping up his stars, hence the under-performance.
"There are big teams who are tampering with one or two of our players and this is obviously unsettling. We've big contracts with our players. There is no player for sale at Highlands Park, and we've made that clear that no player is going anywhere."