Battle to avoid drop a salutary lesson

Kaitano Tembo (left) is taking SuperSport United’s relegation threat as a learning curve, saying the problem begins when, as a coach, you don’t know how to handle the pressure when defeats come flooding in.

Matsatsantsa a Pitori are embroiled in the relegation quagmire where they are just a point away from the play-offs spot, currently occupied by Ajax Cape Town.

“It is always easy to be in a situation where you are always winning, but then you lose three or four times and you don’t know what to do, that’s where the problem lies,” said Tembo.

“It is new and it is also a learning curve for the team but we need to remember that we played a lot of football, especially last season and we never really had a break in January,” he added.

United have indeed been playing a lot of football over the past season, having reached the Caf Confederation Cup final as recently as five months ago, and Tembo says his players’ legs are getting heavier.

“We don’t really want to complain because we have put ourselves in this position and we have to take ourselves out of this situation.

“We get tested in terms of how we manage players and making sure they are fresh. For me personally as a coach, it is a learning curve and I think you learn in situations like these where you really need to dig deep and work on your team when we are under pressure,” said Tembo.

“We are trying our utmost to ease the pressure on the players because they know the situation we are in.”