Bottom placed Cape Town Spurs are expected to name a new coach in the next days after the sacking of Shaun Bartlett earlier this week but their woes continued on Wednesday as they lost for a record-extending eighth time in a row from the start of the season to remain firmly rooted to last place in the DStv Premiership.
Vasili Manousakis, who was coach at Richards Bay last season, has been named as the new assistant coach and was standing in on the bench on Wednesday as Spurs again took the lead but let it slip and lost 2-1 to SuperSport United at the Athlone Stadium.
He said he had no idea who the new coach would be. “From my understanding it’s filtered down to a shortlist of very, very experienced PSL coaches, who know their way around the PSL. So I'm actually looking forward to that, because if it’s someone very experienced, I can only get better and everybody else around us in the technical team can only get better. Let's see.”
As for the task of lifting Spurs out of the doldrums, Manousakis sounded a positive note.
“They have good attitudes. We had very little time to work with a team but they responded well. I only arrived yesterday and the technical director’s been working only one or two days with the team. We asked them to do something completely different, to which they responded well. And the positives are that we've got a good group of players who are willing to learn and understand that they're going through a very tough time.
“The challenge is not physical, it's mental at the moment. And that's what we need to overcome. But a good group of players, excellent facilities, one of the best in the country to work at and a management team that is supportive, that is hands-on and that is saying, ‘what do you guys need’? And we're going, ‘just give us a little bit of time’.”
Spurs are the first side in the history of the Premier Soccer League to lose eight games from the start of the season but now have a break for the international window.
“Maybe it’s a blessing that we've got two weeks to now to do work on some of the positives. We're dealing with a group of players that are lacking confidence, that are making errors that shouldn't be made at this level. But they continue to lift their heads and from what I've seen, we've got something to work with,” Manousakis added.