Benni loses Marlin to rival Cape Town club
Guardiola mum on Mourinho rant
COACH Benni McCarthy is due to return to work today after the Christmas holiday break, and will find yet another member of his Cape Town City staff has deserted.
Goalkeeper coach Calvin Marlin has crossed over to Ajax Cape Town to team up again with Muhsin Ertugral.
Marlin’s departure follows just weeks after McCarthy’s assistant Ian Taylor left to join Chinese Super League club Guangzhou R&F.
Marlin previously worked with Ertugral at Mpumalanga Black Aces, and when the franchise was sold to John Comitis‚ Marlin became the new club’s first acquisition in anticipation of continuing as part of Ertugral’s staff.
But Ertugral then made a U-turn and did not take up the offer to be City’s first coach after he was offered a job by Orlando Pirates at the same time.
The Turkish-born coach ended up lasting just a few months at the Buccaneers after a tempestuous relationship with his players, where he resigned after a 6-1 drubbing by SuperSport United in the league.
Marlin stayed at City and worked well under Eric Tinkler but did not have the same close relationship with McCarthy according to City officials.
With Ertugral back in the PSL for his fourth spell at Ajax‚ one of his first moves was to invite Marlin to cross over and join him – an invitation Marlin‚ a former Ajax goalkeeper‚ has snapped up.
Taylor left earlier in the month after an enticing offer from Ajax Amsterdam‚ who have an agreement with Guangzhou R&F and have placed Taylor there as Head of Talent Development.
Ertugral has been ringing the changes since being appointed to save Ajax from potential relegation after the sacking of Stanley Menzo.
Experienced coach Boebie Solomons‚ who was brought in six months ago to serve as assistant to Menzo‚ has now also left Ajax as Ertugral shakes up the staff structures.
Meanwhile Bidvest Wits have announced the signing of Lehlohonolo Majoro, who will link up with the club on January 1.
Wits, who are currently propping up the PSL standings after winning the league last season, are desperate to rescue their campaign.
And they have made a statement of their intent by signing the former Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs striker, who was confirmed as having penned a deal with Wits after being released early from his Cape Town City contract. — supersport.com PEP Guardiola refused to be drawn into a war of words with Jose Mourinho after Manchester City maintained their impressive progress towards the Premier League title.
City stretched their commanding advantage at the top to 15 points over Manchester United as Raheem Sterling sealed a 1-0 win at Newcastle to record an 18th consecutive league victory, one short of Bayern Munich’s current best for Europe’s top five leagues of 19 straight wins.
United manager Mourinho attempted to provoke Guardiola on Tuesday after pointing to their rivals’ huge spending power by claiming “City buy fullbacks for the price of strikers” and insisting that the £300-million (R4.9billion) he has spent since taking charge at Old Trafford 18 months ago as “not enough”.
Mourinho paid £93-million (R1.5-billion) to sign France midfielder Paul Pogba, while also recruiting £30-million (R497-million) defender Eric Bailly, and midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan for £26.3-million (R436-million). This year, United spent £75-million (R1.2-billion) on striker Romelu Lukaku, as well as £31-million (R514-million) on defender Victor Lindelof and £40-million (R663million) for midfielder Nemanja Matic.
In comparison, City bought three defenders – Kyle Walker from Tottenham for an initial £45-million (R746million), Benjamin Mendy from Monaco for £52-million (R862-million) and Danilo from Real Madrid for £26.5million (R439-million) as part of a summer outlay that topped £200-million (R3.3-billion).
When asked about the comments made by the Portuguese, Guardiola said: “I’m so delighted to be here to speak about what happened on the pitch.
“About what happened with my colleague speaking off the pitch in the press conference, I’m not the right guy. You want to talk about what happened today on the pitch, I will answer.”
City remain on course to win the title in record time after equalling Chelsea’s English top flight record of 11 consecutive away wins.
City face a minimum of eight games in 34 days in a hectic start to the New Year, and Guardiola added: “Of course we are happy to break records but when we prepare for games we don’t speak about them. Until now, we have found a way to win.
“I saw the schedule in my office the other day and I wanted to escape, because it’s terrible. The games we are going to play, it’s tough.
“We’ve played all these games in December then in January you have the Carabao Cup and FA Cup and then the return of the Champions League in February. It will be tough but it will also be tough for our opponents.”
Guardiola’s opposite number Rafa Benitez hit back at criticism of his negative approach after his team slid to a fifth consecutive home defeat.
Substitute Dwight Gayle almost snatched a dramatic late equaliser to in-part justify the manager’s ultra-cautious approach, and the Spaniard said: “We were in the game until the end and very close to getting a point against a very good team.” — AFP