Renowned Katutura-based clubs Tigers and Orlando Pirates face off at the Independence Stadium at 19h00 tonight with both clubs struggling and at the wrong end of the table.
Tigers, who have only won four of their 13 matches to date, are ninth on the log on 17 points, but Pirates have only won one match so far and are rock bottom on only five points.
Both sides largely have young and inexperienced squads, having lost a lot of players to other clubs, while they also have relatively new technical teams. James Britz took over as Tigers coach midway through last season and said they have improved but have been inconsistent.
“It’s an up and down situation. When I got the job last year Tigers were third from the bottom, but since then we improved – we had some good matches, but also some poor performances, so now we are ninth on the log. But we are not too far away from the teams above us so if we do well this weekend we can go at least sixth on the log,” he said.
“We’ve got two matches this weekend against Pirates and Stars where we will push for as many points as possible. Stars are doing very well, they are defensively very well organised, so that’s going to be tough, but the Pirates game is a must-win game for us,” he added.
Britz said he has a young team that still lacks in experience.
“We have a very young and talented squad and I’m sure they will do well in the future, but they are now still finding their feet. For some of them it’s the first time that they are playing in the premiership, so they still need to gain that experience, but they have the talent to go far.”
Britz said that their national midfielder Devin Somseb will return from injury, but their experienced defender Emilio Martin whom they signed from African Stars during the season, is not available.
“Mariboy (Emilio Martin) has helped us a lot, to bring stability to the defence and leadership to the team, but unfortunately he won’t be available against Pirates, because he already played against them for Stars.”
Britz, however, made a plea for no further disruptions of their technical team, after their goalkeeper coach Thiro Thlabanello was fired midway through the season.
“We only heard about it on Instagram, we were not informed and we still don’t know why he was fired. It has created instability, so it needs to be addressed, but I believe if the technical team stays together we will do better in the second round,” he said.
Pirates’ disruptions
Pirates have had even more disruptions, losing 12 players at the start of the season, while Costa Khaiseb was roped in as interim coach midway through the season after Ali Akan resigned.
Since then things deteriorated further with Pirates having lost six matches and drawn one, and although the season is only reaching the halfway stage, the prospects of them remaining in the premiership look bleak at the moment.
“Our situation is very concerning at the moment, we are bottom of the log with only five points from 13 matches,” Khaiseb said.
“We’ve been training the whole week and will be ready. We’ve spoken to the players, we had one-on-one sessions with them and we also brought in a psychologist to speak to them to give them a boost,” he added.
Khaiseb, however, added that they need to make a lot of new signings to strengthen the squad.
“We will have to sign at least six to eight quality players to strengthen the team in the January transfer window. I have discussed it with management and they have agreed. When the season started Pirates released 12 players and a lot of them are now playing for top clubs like Ongos, Khomas Nampol and Blue Waters, so we need to get more experience,” he said.
“We have a lot of talent, but the players must still develop and most are players for the future – they don’t have the quality or experience and they lack the desire to play for Orlando Pirates in the premier league. Furthermore, we have five injured players who are not available for the Tigers match, so we must put our young boys in, but who knows, maybe they can pull off a surprise,” he said.
Khaiseb said he was appointed interim coach when Ali Akan resigned at the end of September, but is ready to take on the challenge.
“When Pirates lost 1-0 to Chula Chula, Ali called the squad together and announced his resignation. Pirates’ manager then contacted me and asked if I would be available because I just came back from Germany where I got a coaching license, so I said yes, I’Il take on the challenge. I’m still coaching on an interim basis, but we will take it match by match,” he said.
Despite their poor position, Khaiseb is hopeful of turning things around.
“We are only on five points, but a lot can change over a weekend of double-headers. If we get at least four to six points, we can close the gap a lot. But for sure, all the teams are fighting for survival and if we don’t get six to eight quality players by the second round its going to be really tough to survive,” he said.
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