De Sa to add a few more players in January

Coach recognises need to strengthen Dikwena

Platinum Stars have their backs against the wall and the team’s head coach Roger de Sa has admitted that they need quality players.

Dikwena suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Kaizer Chiefs at the weekend, which leaves them in the relegation zone after 14 matches.

De Sa, who took over in September, has been in charge of 12 league games, winning two, losing four and drawing six.

Without giving much away in terms of which positions he wants to strengthen, he conceded that he needs more quality players to turn things around.

“We keep going and hopefully January comes, we can strengthen with a few players just to add a bit of depth,” he said.

“To create a bit of competition will be good. I think we need four quality players to add to our squad and make it more competitive. Some of these [current] players know that they are going to play week in and week out. We need that motivation as well,” De Sa continued.

So bad is the situation that De Sa has been forced to play striker Bonginkosi Ntuli even though he fractured his arm recently. “He broke his arm about two weeks ago. He fell and he’s got a fracture, but he’s been playing with it and he’s been doing alright. He scored a goal last week [in the 1-0 win against Polokwane City], so he’s going to keep going like that,” the coach confirmed.

Stars will face fellow strugglers Bidvest Wits away on Saturday in their last match of the year. De Sa said he expects a very tough game against his former team, who are at the bottom of the standings.

“Personally, I think Wits will get out of trouble. They’ve got way too much quality and on their budget, what they have, they should still finish in the top eight,” he added.