One positive for Benni: City can’t play worse ...
AFTER a performance to forget at the Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday, Cape Town City won’t have too much time to dwell on the defeat to Golden Arrows. The next PSL fixture is already upon them – and coach Benni McCarthy is demanding a response from his under-performing side when they tackle Maritzburg United at the Harry Gwala Stadium tomorrow night (kickoff 8.15pm).
City’s dreadful performance left a disappointed McCarthy pulling his hair out in frustration. Now, with a tricky PSL fixture looming, against the high-riding KwaZulu-Natal team, the former Bafana Bafana striker is desperate for the real City to turn up.
Maritzburg coach Fadlu Davids attended City’s match on Wednesday and was a watchful, attentive presence in the VIP area. But, and this is probably a positive for McCarthy, Davids (a Capetonian, too) wouldn’t have learnt too much from such a diabolical performance. City certainly can’t play any worse.
“Maritzburg are fourth in the league and they deserve to be there, so I don’t think we can say they are punching above their weight,” said McCarthy. “As a team, they have a lot of energy and they have a good coach (Fadlu Davids) who has them well-drilled.
“What can I say?” said McCarthy after the loss to Arrows on Wednesday. “It was a very frustrating evening, especially when you have warned the players that they are up against a team desperate for three points.
“Arrows were fighting for their lives, they wanted it more, and they got their reward. We pulled out of tackles, we were second best in everything.”
“We never dealt with their counter-attacks, while we were just too slow in transition. Our final-third entry was the worst I’ve seen. When we got to the front, it looked like we didn’t know what we wanted to do. It was a terrible result for us.”
City remain in sixth position on the PSL standings, with 34 points, and five games still to play. Teams below them are starting to catch up, though.
“I think, perhaps in future, I shouldn’t even mention that other teams are catching up,” said the City coach. “Because I brought that up and look at the performance? Maybe I should just focus on us, and not focus on the other teams and the league table. I mean we could have finished so much higher. Now, I don’t know.”