Once again, South African players’ complacency will deny them a shot at the big prizes

I BELONG to the group of people who see the glass as half empty – not because I am pessimistic but because of my strong appetite for drinking.

A half-empty glass is tantamount to sin where I come from and it’s a good thing the good people I spend most of my Tuesdays with understand this. While almost every coach says that the reason why there isn’t much separating teams in the Premiership standings, in a season marred by inconsistency, is because competition is tight,

I disagree slightly with them. To an extent competition is tight. But the biggest contributor to how things are isn’t so much competition but complacency.

Our players tend to get easily carried away by a few positive results which go to their heads and they struggle to replicate that form on a consistent basis.

Maritzburg United coach Fadlu Davids admitted as much after the 1-0 loss to SuperSport United that came on the back of the Team of Choice’s 4-0 thumping of a rejuvenated Bloemfontein Celtic. The same Celtic was in the final of the Telkom Knockout and is among the pacesetters in the league race, playing some enterprising football under coach Veselin Jelusic.

Complacency is the reason why Wits find themselves called relegation candidates months after being called South African champions for the first time in the club’s history.

Complacency is the reason why so many teams can’t go 10 games without a loss, and no I am not talking about drawing nine games and winning one – that’s loosely using the word “unbeaten”.

Matsatsantsa a Pitori went on a 19-match unbeaten run last season to match Kaizer Chiefs’ record but the Tshwane side’s run had more draws than wins which is why they finished fifth with that run while Chiefs won the league with their spell.

Complacency is the reason why mid-table teams can bring their best against championship contenders but then not put up the same fight against teams who are at their level.

Complacency is a cancer in our game that needs to be cut out by believing that good is evil, instead teams must strive for excellence. The reason why this happens is that the smallest of hype tends to get to some players and they suddenly believe that they have made it when they haven’t even arrived.

Stars aren’t made in five games or even one season. Stars are made through consistency for a number of years.

There is no doubt that the Team of Choice have assembled a good unit that will achieve great things if they can stay together for a number of seasons. Davids and his technical staff have done an amazing job.But if all the players can understand that they haven’t done anything so far, the better they will be. It’s the same with surprise packages Free State Stars, Celtic and even Orlando Pirates.

Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic is trying to ensure that the devil called complacency doesn’t pay the Buccaneers a visit by constantly saying that the team hasn’t done anything and they are still a work in progress.

The truth is that Pirates haven’t done anything. They couldn’t have sunk lower than they did in their disastrous spell last season. So Micho and his technical team, haven’t done anything.

Yes they have changed the players’ mind-set, making them believe in themselves more. The defence has improved and this year they have been scoring. But Pirates aren’t judged on progress but titles, a reality that Sredojevic is aware of.

I believe that as the media we are also to blame for people getting complacent because we are quick to shower them with praise before they have done anything tangible.

That praise goes into the heads of those who can’t handle it.

Five years ago we would be within our rights to celebrate Matsatsantsa reaching the final of the Caf Confederation Cup because our teams had struggled on the continent.

But with four appearances in finals of Caf competitions since 2013, finishing second is underachieving as we have shown that we can hold our own against the best on the continent.

Another way of solving the problem is setting higher standards. If your drive is to win the Champions League that means you have to win the league or finish second.

And if your ambition is to play in the Fifa Club World Cup, that means winning the league to qualify for the Champions League and then reigning supreme on the continent.