Faltering Tembo faces the chop
FORMER Warriors defender and Supersport United coach Kaitano Tembo (pictured) is enduring struggles at the South African topflight club, which could cost him his job at the end of the season.
Tembo watched his side squander a 2-0 lead against Orlando Pirates on Wednesday to lose the match 3-2, which was Supersport’s third defeat from their last five matches and their eighth in 21 games so far this season.
ey have slipped to 22 points behind leaders Sundowns and currently sit a distant seventh on the league table with title hopes having evaporated.
e club has since promised to make some changes to the technical team come the end of the season, but it is not clear whether they will sack Tembo, who has been at the helm for the last four years.
A club official recently told South African publication, the Citizen that there will be a revamp of the technical team.
“It is not that the team does not have any faith in Tembo, he is the son of the team and will forever be part of the fabric that makes up Matsatsantsa A Pitori,” the official said.
“At the same time, we have to understand that we are regarded as one of the top teams in the country and our performances in recent seasons do not reflect that entirely. e board will sit at the end of the season and go through the coach’s report and take it from there. But rest assured that there will be some changes in the club next season.”
Tembo took plenty of positives from his side’s 3-2 defeat to Orlando Pirates, but he knows results will have to improve if he is to persuade the board for more time.
“We had very good start,” Tembo told SuperSport TV. “We were very positive. We pressed high and forced them to make mistakes. Scored two welldeserved goals. But you know sometimes when decisions don’t go your way.
“Some decisions
aallow your opponent to come back into the game. And it made it difficult for us. I think we deserved something. We could have done better defensively. But I’m proud of the guys. When they came in they did very well.
“It’s normal. When you take that route there are going to be mistakes here and there. But we have got to believe in their ability. Because they don’t improve if you don’t play them.
“ at’s why we play them so they get better. at’s very important for us. So we will keep on giving them the opportunity. For me I'm quite proud of the guys.
“Look for me, I look at the performance. I think the guys played very well. ere were a lot of positives. A lot of take-aways from this game. at was key. We wanted to win. It didn’t happen but we move on. I think if we play the way we played today, we will win more games than we lose,” he added.