Vukusic appointment may be a masterstroke

If there were any AmaZulu fans who were doubtful of their team’s newly appointed coach Jozef Vukusic, he must have put them at ease when he spoke after his appointment earlier this week. Vukusic spoke like a man who knows what he wants to do.

He is not a fancy talker who aims to impress with technical talk but rather speaks simple football. He seems to be one of the few coaches who understand that our footballers like it simple.

Our players have struggled under coaches who are over-reliant on tactics and forget the players are human and have emotions and a thinking capacity to be able to solve some of the game situations.

Vukusic said he knows most of the players in the Usuthu squad. “I know the team well from the outside but I will need a little time to learn about the players and the club now that I am inside because there are many factors that influence the performance of the team,” Vukusic said in his first media engagement in Durban.

Listening to him talk, it is easy to understand his success at Polokwane City who he took to the top five in the Absa Premiership last season. City were one of the better-performing teams last season and a player like Puleng Thlolane who had looked to have lost interest after failed attempts to leave the club, found his form again under Vukusic.

From what Vukusic said, it seems he is the kind of coach who knows the players will listen and do what he wants them to do. Being happy starts at training. @SbongsKaDonga

If a coach treats you with respect it is bound to make you want to excel. Usuthu have one of the well-balanced squads this season and can easily compete for cups and even the league under the right guidance.

Club manager Lunga Sokhela admitted that the way Vukusic works with players was one of the things that made him irresistible. He said when he spoke to people who had worked with the Slovak, he got the feeling he could be the man they needed to return Usuthu to being a big and respectable team again. But of course Vukusic will be judged by results and inasmuch as he can talk a good game, what matters more is if he can play a good game.

I found it funny how club bosses seemed to be waiting for each other to pull the trigger first so they could follow suit. It seems none wanted to be the first to pull the trigger and waited until the man whose reputation when it comes to such matters precedes him – Chippa Mpengesi – did. He took the first step and fired Clinton Larsen on Monday morning. Soon afterwards, two more clubs followed suit and a few more are likely to do it too.

It has been an open secret that former AmaZulu coach Cavin Johnson had been on borrowed time for at least a month before his sacking.

If you have been following his story, which Phakaaathi broke a few weeks ago, Johnson was given a target of 18 points in 10 games.

That is not a tough target for a team who have the kind of players AmaZulu have put together.

Three games into the new season, it became apparent Johnson would not achieve the target and the fans started calling for his head.

But the club’s management sat on their decision. When Pirates beat Chippa United on Saturday afternoon, by late the same day the rumours Clinton Larsen had been fired had already started.

Johnson drew against Golden Arrows on Sunday and it was then clear he wouldn’t make the set target.

Now who’s next?