Hunt admits that relegation is now a concern for Wits
“A LOT OF US ARE EMBARRASSED.” And with these words, after a handful of journalist camped outside Wits’ dressing-room following their 1-0 defeat at home against Platinum Stars on Saturday night, coach Gavin Hunt admitted relegation was now a concern.
The narrow loss was the Clever Boys’ seventh from 14 PSL games, turning the title holders into a shadow of the side that ended a near-century long drought to win the championship last season.
“Our response is obviously one of disappointment,” Hunt said. “A lot of us are embarrassed – from where we were (as champions) to where we are now. We need to care about these things and work a lot more. What can I say? We have players in this team who have played and won a lot of things, but we have gone blind. We have missed the chance to score from some unbelievable opportunities. That’s been the story.”
Wits won the title in May, but ended the year under a dark cloud by not only losing in front of their home crowd to a struggling Stars outfit, but also by staying rooted at the bottom of the league standings.
“When you are top of the league you are worried, and when you are bottom you are worried,” the coach, who spent at least 30 minutes having a word with his players prior to speaking to the press, said.
“But we can’t play with fear because we have got to take heed of the situation.”
Hunt added that the short Christmas break, which will see the Clever Boys only return to action against hoodoo side Free State Stars on 5 January at the Bidvest Stadium, should give him a chance to reflect and refresh the team as the transfer window also opens.
“Of course I am going to say we are going to turn it round. To be fair, the fight in the team has been good. The last three games, the opposition has had two chances. They (Platinum Stars) never had a chance, they scored from a corner,” he explained, before saying that the January transfer window was “a big opportunity”.
“We have to use it. I don’t know yet what we are going to get, but we are going to have a long chat about it. We have a few players on our minds, and a few that have got to go. There’s not much, but we must do the best we can. We certainly need to get some wingers. It’s a problem for us – not a lot of width in our play.”
Hunt said he now had doubts about his squad, despite them winning the league in May.
“Let’s throw that out the window,” he reasoned. “It’s questionable because we are where we are. If we’d scored half the chances we have had this season, we wouldn’t be here, that’s the bottom line.
“You look at the first game of the season where we lost 1-0 to Cape Town City, the score should have been four or five (in Wits’ favour).
“The strikers haven’t scored, but you can’t just blame them, it’s everybody.
“Whatever. Look at the squad, the chances have fallen to senior players, and they haven’t scored.” Meanwhile, Njabulo Ngidi reports that Pitso Mosimane is cautious about people crowning Mamelodi Sundowns champions before they even reach the halfway mark of the season, but in the same breath he admitted it wouldn’t be a bad idea to practice engraving the Brazilians’ name on the trophy.
The charismatic Sundowns coach boldly stated after losing the league title to Wits last season that he knew where “his trophy” was. He went on to say that it’s a good thing that Wits’ base in Milpark is by the freeway which means easy and fast access. The former African champions are looking and playing like champions.
Sundowns are sitting pretty at the summit with a six-point lead with two games in hand.
So has “Jingles” started his car to head to Milpark to reclaim the crown?
“Not yet. Let the trophy stay at Milpark … for now. When the time for anybody to claim it comes (we’ll be ready). It’s not that time yet. But we are on the road to doing that. We are striving towards that. But we are far away (from being crowned champions). We have to be professional,” Mosimane, said. FORGET about Conor McGregor stepping back into the boxing ring anytime soon. It appears that the 29-year-old will head back to fight in the octagon.
After a Friday night on the town in New York, McGregor told reporters “I think a true fight is what I want to do next. A real fight ... MMA next.”
There had been talk of a McGregorManny Pacquiao fight, but that talk quickly ended when UFC president Dana White threatened to sue Pacquiao, according to ESPN. McGregor remains under contract with the UFC
The last time McGregor fought was in Las Vegas to take on Floyd Mayweather Jr in August. He suffered a TKO loss, but many thought he might stay in boxing for more lucrative contracts.
The fight against Mayweather did 4.3 million buys, making it the second biggest fight in history.
McGregor scoffed at the idea of fighting in the WWE, using an expletive to say, no, he wasn’t going to follow in Ronda Rousey’s footsteps. – Reuters