Stock up on blood pressure pills
MUHSIN ERTUGRAL is going to need all of his tactical nous and he’ll have to draw heavily on his extensive coaching experience as Ajax Cape Town prepare for an anxiety-tinged close to the PSL season.
The Turkish coach, now in his fourth stint at Ajax, admits there is still a lot of hard work ahead and his team will have to stay focused during what is certain to be a highly pressurised final three games. But he remains confident – and, in his opinion, they need another two wins to be safe.
“It will be tight, it will probably go all the way to the last game,” said the Ajax coach. “The teams are on 28, 29, 30 and 31 points, anything can still happen – but I think it is possible to get the two victories we need.”
The Cape side are braced for a nail-biting finish to the league campaign – and, as things stand, they are going to have to win two of their remaining three games to ensure their safety. The last three fixtures are Baroka FC (home), Mamelodi Sundowns (away) and Kaizer Chiefs (home).
If you’re an Ajax supporter, then you’d better stock up on those blood pressure pills – prepare for a tense, nervy end to the season.
Ajax come off a good week, picking up four points, after a 1-0 win over Wits last Wednesday and a 1-1 draw with Chippa United on Sunday. Despite this, Ajax are still in serious danger of finishing secondlast and having to negotiate the tricky promotion/relegation playoff campaign at the end of the season to secure their PSL status.
The basement of the PSL standings read as follows: Platinum Stars prop up the table with 21 points, and then Ajax on 28, SuperSport United 29, Polokwane City 30 and Golden Arrows on 31 points. The bottom club will more than likely be Platinum and they will be relegated to the NFD. The team finishing second-from-bottom will have to play off against the clubs ending second and third in the NFD; this is the scrap in which Ajax, SuperSport, Polokwane and Arrows will be involved – and this is what the Capetonians desperately want to avoid.
After the draw with Chippa at the weekend, Ertugral wasn’t all that satisfied with the manner in which his side played. But, with his team having a break this week, he will be using the opportunity to work on a few areas that are troubling him.
“I wasn’t happy,” said Ertugral, pictured. “We knew that they (Chippa) would come at us, so we blocked their plays and they couldn’t come between our lines. We also won the second balls very well – but once we won the ball we couldn’t hold on to it. That was the main problem – we got the ball, but then couldn’t keep it in the midfield. Because of this, the strikers couldn’t get into the right positions.
“And then, on the goal they scored, it was the same old story when we conceded from a corner. It’s something we work on all the time, but again we lost concentration and they were able to take the lead.
“But we changed things slightly, took off a defender and brought on an attacker, and we had the game completely in the closing stages. We had quite a few chances and it was only a matter of time before we scored.”
Ertugral may be upbeat about his team’s chances of survival, but it’s a big ask – and Ajax are going to need every ounce of ability and character from each and every member of the squad. The one positive is that the players have shown the necessary fight and determination in the last few fixtures, hence the four points in the last two games. But, make no mistake, they are going to need a lot more in the final run-in: Baroka are probably the most unpredictable team in the PSL – on their day, they could beat just about any team in the league; they are not to be under-estimated. Sundowns have been, by a country mile, the best team in South Africa this season; and Chiefs, after falling away in recent weeks, will be desperate to finish the season on a high.
If Ertugral’s summing up of the situation is correct, then Ajax have to win two of these games. Take your pick.