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There's no crisis at SuperSport United‚ says new coach Kaitano Tembo

Kaitano Tembo during the Absa Premiership match between SuperSport United and Orlando Pirates at Mbombela Stadium on April 11, 2018 in Nelspruit, South Africa.
Kaitano Tembo during the Absa Premiership match between SuperSport United and Orlando Pirates at Mbombela Stadium on April 11, 2018 in Nelspruit, South Africa.
Image: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images

SuperSport United’s new coach Kaitano Tembo believes any crisis there might have been at the club is long gone and even though many might disagree‚ feels the side did not have a particularly bad last season.

Although the threat of relegation hung over the team‚ and coach Eric Tinkler left after chemistry with his players did not gel‚ his replacement Tembo said the team had won the MTN8‚ reached the final of the African Confederation Cup and in the end finished in seventh place‚ after they were awarded points in the Ajax Cape Town ‘Ndorogate’ saga.

That‚ he said‚ would make for a good season in anyone’s books.

“Towards the end of last season‚ we only lost one out of seven and for me we haven’t been doing badly‚" he said.

"If we can build from the last few games of last season‚ then we can get off to a good start.”

But there will be concern it could be another bumpy ride again after SuperSport lost their opening game of the new campaign in Cape Town at the weekend and now face AmaZulu in Atteridgeville on Wednesday night.

Tembo‚ who was only last week handed a two-year contract to be head coach‚ claimed his side “gave a good performance” and created good chances and “with a little bit of luck‚ could have taken the game” at Cape Town City on Saturday‚ where they lost 2-0

“We were not effective in some areas although we managed to get behind their defence on occasion. Maybe the decision-making let us down.

“But I was happy with the overall performance of the guys‚ we played well‚ considering we were playing away from home.”

Success against AmaZulu will be vital for Tembo to get a win under his belt and halt any possible slide back into the angst of the last campaign and the ex-Zimbabwe international feels he can deal with it.

“With our jobs there is also pressure.

"I’ve been in charge for the last seven months and already I’ve had to deal with pressure because we might have been relegated.

"For me‚ it’s pressure all the way‚ it doesn’t matter where we are‚” he said.

“But at least now we are starting with a clean slate‚ where we can always try and bounce back whereas from last season it was a little bit difficult as the games were running out‚ we needed points‚ we couldn’t get points.

"But we came out in the end.

“This game is always about pressure and I can take it.”

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