AmaZulu coach ‘not worried’
IT IS not unfair to place AmaZulu among the relegation candidates. With just three games to reach the halfway mark in the season, Usuthu are perched second from bottom.
And it begins to appear very sticky when one realises that in 12 outings, the Durban side have given away 25 potential points.
But that’s merely an observer’s view. Usuthu coach Jozef Vukusic is calm about the situation and says he’s not pressing any panic buttons.
Recently, AmaZulu suffered back-to-back defeats to Chippa United and Mamelodi Sundowns respectively.
It doesn’t look like things will get easier for them as their next assignment is against Maritzburg United, who are in red-hot form. The KwaZulu-Natal derby is scheduled for King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi on Sunday at 3.30pm.
On Tuesday night, Usuthu lost 1-0 to defending league champions Sundowns at Loftus Stadium.
Said Vukusic: “I’m not worried. I’m a positive person. The second half showed that we can play anywhere. We have one home game (before the Christmas break against Maritzburg) and then we have two away matches.
“The next game is not easy, we are up against tough opponents in Maritzburg United. They play good football, but that should not be the reason to worry. Football is all about improving and working hard, you learn from games like today. There are a lot of positives that we can use for the next game and we need to stay focused,” a positive Vukusic stated after the Sundowns defeat.
The Slovakian took over the coaching reins in the middle of the season. He replaced a beleaguered Cavin Johnson at the time. The team have improved under his leadership but consistency is one of their major challenges. They have blown hot and cold and are over-reliant on their striker Bongi Ntuli’s form.
“We’ve been in worse situations, but we bounced back and collected points. We need to work on that (consistency) and start collecting points again. We must use the next three games to move up on the log,” he added.
“I signed two players to strengthen the team (Mario Booysen and Tsepo Masilela). We will see what we can do. We have some players that are on loan. We will deal with that. I can’t tell now,” said Vukusic.