Eric shouldn’t lose any sleep over fixture jam
ability. He got the Ajax squad together and urged the players to dig deeper, and to find the level of form and courage that had deserted them.
Football success, after all, is about more than just ability. It’s about commitment, determination and, above all, that beating organ on the left-hand side of the chest: heart.
Ajax’s struggles this season have been well-documented. They knew they needed to deliver something special against Celtic last week. Another defeat would have been disastrous. No-one knew this more than the Cape club’s new captain, Lebusa – and he led from the front in delivering a rousing message to the squad. It had the desired effect as Ajax produced an inspired opening 45 minutes against Celtic – a performance head coach Stanley Menzo said was “the best we’ve played so far this season”. There was greater attacking intent, there was commitment, there was a desire to go above and beyond, there was fight and bite and, more importantly, in Lebusa’s words, there was “heart”.
Now as Ajax prepare for a tricky opening-round Telkom Knockout Cup clash against Polokwane City at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday afternoon (3.30pm), Lebusa, the consistent, ever-present skipper, is looking for more of the same from his team.
“I didn’t say much – but the only thing I wanted to get through to the players was that we had to perform with heart,” said Lebusa. “We know everybody has talent, but talent is not enough… We have to use our hearts and play with commitment. I told them that even if we lose, if we had given our all, it would be better.
“Fortunately, we got the result against Celtic. I thought the team was brilliant in the first half. I also said at halftime that Celtic would come at us. That was how it turned out to be, but I told them we just had to stick together and hold our ground. We made one or two errors in defence and we scored an own goal, but, overall, I thought it was a solid performance.”
The 2-1 win over Celtic has infused the Ajax side with a great deal more confidence. But Menzo, Lebusa and the squad know that they will now have to bring some consistency to their game and deliver winning results more regularly.
And Ajax know that, in the shape of an in-form, hard-running Polokwane team on Saturday, they are certainly up against it.
“Looking ahead to Saturday’s Cup game, we know it won’t be easy, and no team likes the travel to Polokwane,” said Lebusa. “We beat Polokwane at home for our first league win of the season last month, but, with them at home, we are expecting it to be a lot more difficult. It’s a Cup clash and that’s always a different ballgame.
“But we have spoken about this Cup competition, and we want to go all the way. We know that Polokwane are going to come at us, but we won’t make it easy for them, and we are determined to continue where we left off against Celtic.” ERIC TINKLER was visibly annoyed yesterday when asked about having to tackle the backlog that SuperSport United’s continental success has created.
SuperSport, who will play TP Mazembe in the Caf Confederation Cup final next month, have dropped down to second from bottom of the PSL and have five games in hand.
They clearly have their work cutout.
Tinkler’s response, although he moaned about being asked the same question every time the club makes it to the next round, on how he will deal with playing catch-up makes absolute sense. He is also experienced at it and the assumption is that he is probably more meticulous in how he will deal with it given that he’s been in that boat before.
While he was at Orlando Pirates in 2015, the 47-year-old coach also went all the way to the final of the Confederation Cup, but was unfortunate to lose to Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel. Pirates’ home form domestically was porous, to say the least. The Buccaneers were simply a shadow of a side that was so brave and aggressive on the continent.
They finished in seventh place in the PSL at the end of that season and, while the players were also hammered for being lacklustre, Tinkler took most of the hits.
These Matsatsantsa players appear to posses a different type of mentality that is in contrast to the one the Pirates players, at the time, had. Tinkler never really had a lot of time to work on tactics and training drills, so he had to do a lot of talking as and when needed.
Maybe that was the problem then, as well as the true depth of the Buccaneers squad when the players were tested with games coming in thick and fast. But Tinkler is a lot more mature now.
“I think it is the press that keeps planting this idea of fatigue everywhere and the players start taking it seriously and it sticks in their heads,” Tinkler said yesterday. “All they want to do, to be honest, is to play. The less time spent on the training ground for them, the better. That we are fatigued and we have travelled up and down the continent and we will suffer as a result is just rubbish.”
He was spot on. SuperSport’s players really just want to get on with it. Of course they could use with a bit of rest here and there, which is why it is important to have a squad of more that 30 players who are capable and experienced.
The real question though was on how differently would Tinkler approach the scenario this time around, but he blew his top before the reporter could even finish the question.
His answer would have been pleasing regardless of the context. With senior players like Morgan Gould, Reneilwe Letsholonyane and captain Dean Furman leading some of the youngaters and less experienced, there is no doubt SuperSport’s current status as relegation candidates and a challenging fixture backlog is only temporary.
In Sunday’s game against Club Africain, with every fan at the venue cheering for the hosts, Tinkler’s men looked incredibly convincing, like they could tear Mazembe to shreds. Tinkler shouldn’t lose sleep over this or worry about what the press have to say – his players are a different breed.