Injury-hit United have a tough time ahead

Eric Tinkler is expecting his former side Cape Town City to come out all guns blazing tomorrow afternoon when they face his current team SuperSport United at the Mbombela Stadium in an Absa Premiership clash.

With the visitors coming off the back of a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Maritzburg United on Tuesday, Tinkler believes City will be a lot more motivated when they play Matsatsantsa.

“City have started the league very well, it is going to be a tough game because they are going to be extra motivated,” he said.

“We are SuperSport United and from what we have achieved this season and last season, we are the team to beat. We can’t underestimate them at all, they’ve had good results and bad results. I also had a few good results and bad results when I was there. I think they have the players there who have got the ability to turn that around.”

Tinkler’s side is plagued by injuries with the likes of Thabo Mnyamane, Ronwen Williams, Fagrie Lakay and Onismor Bhasera all sidelined. The former Orlando Pirates coach has revealed that striker Bradley Grobler (left) has been carrying a knock since June, and gives an insight on his player-resting programme.

“When we talk about players resting we’ve got to be careful because when we talk about it sometimes it does not mean a player is going to take a holiday for a week. Sometimes it means giving them one or two days off and it might be that we’ve made decision before the game that we are only going to give this specific player a certain number of minutes because we have to remember that what they give is important because we are talking about key players. If we can get 45 or 65 minutes out of them, that’s okay,” said Tinkler.

“For example, Bradley hasn’t really had a full week of training since I joined the club, not even a single one. So it is about that management of the player and then assessing when can we or cannot play him and for how long we can play him.”