Kaitano Tembo is about to begin his third campaign as SuperSport United coach and will hope to improve on last season's exploits that saw the Pretoria side finish fifth on the standings.

Tembo managed to deliver the MN8 trophy last season and will hope to mount a serious challenge on the league title and in the cup competitions that will on offer in this campaign.

United begin their account against Black Leopards at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday night and the side's ambition is to finish higher than last season's fifth place.

“For me if you’re in a professional set-up where it’s a business‚ it’s always about doing well‚” said Tembo on Wednesday morning‚ a few days before the Leopards encounter.

United have already shown that they have a hunger to defend their MTN 8 trophy after they beat a game Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila at the Thohoyandou Stadium 3-2 last weekend.

“Our mandate is to do well than last season.

"I’m always preaching that (to the players). We always need to improve. This season we have to defend the MTN8.

“At the same time in the league we want to do better than last season‚ finish higher than last season. That’s how you build the team and that’s what our objective is.”

Tembo said they have to take advantage of playing at home against a team that’s going through a number of changes‚ including starting the season under a new coach in Belgian’s Patrick Aussems.

“Look‚ it’s quite a very good question because it’s same scenario (like TTM last week)‚” said Tembo.

“I think for us it’s about focussing more on our strength because you’re playing at home and we believe that we’ve got the players and a better structure. We have to put more energy on ourselves‚ like we did against TTM‚ especially in the first half.

“Our quality came out in that first half where we scored three goals and it could have been more to be honest. For us we need not worry about Leopards but we know what’s happening because they’ve lost two good players in Khuliso Mudau (Mamelodi Sundowns) and Mwape Musonda (Hatta in the United Arab Emirates).

“But we also know that if we go there and impose our game on them‚ I think we’ve got a better chance of winning the game.

“We’re playing against a team that’s got a new coach and obviously the players want to do well‚ they want to raise their hands to the new coach and show what they can do. That’s very dangerous when you play against a team that has players who want to prove themselves.

“But like I said‚ mentally we’re in a better situation at the moment because we’ve just come off a very good result against TTM‚ which was in MTN8‚ and it put us in the semi-finals (against Bloemfontein Celtic).

“The morale in the camp is a little bit better and I think that’s motivation on its own. The players will also want to do well as they want to get into the final of the MTN8‚ and that gives them an opportunity to play in the next game.

“So although we might have a few players [missing] because of injury‚ I’m happy with what I’ve seen at the moment in terms of our preparations. We’re ready to face Leopards.”

- TimesLIVE

Source: ARENA Holdings.