Opinion Sport

[LOOK] Citizens to arrest the slide: Five-match losing run is threatening to derail campaign

Sizwe Mbebe|Published

Nightmare run: City’s Taahir Goedeman, left, could not stop Sunday’s swak loss to Amazulu.Picture credit: Sydney Mahlangu

Something needs to happen for coach Eric Tinkler and his Cape Town City team and it has to happen soon.

Entering Wednesday’s 7.30pm clash with TS Galaxy at the Mbombela Stadium, City are winless in five PSL matches which has raised the stakes for their next three matches before the international break.

Someone told me over the weekend that ‘they won’t get relegated, they always find a way to finish in the top eight’.

They’re currently down in 14th place on the log and it’s not the first time the club has flirted with relegation, and usually the coaches get fired each time and somehow they end up finishing in the top eight.

They were in similar danger last season and completely turned things around after the mid-season break. So ja, it’s understandable why opinions are currently divided on head coach Tinkler.

You know how it goes, it’s always the coach’s head on the line when the team doesn’t do well.

City lost four league matches in a row and they’re only six games in. That’s most of the first block of matches of the league calendar.

Most teams and coaches generally group matches in sevens and set targets accordingly.

City have a negative goal difference, scoring just four goals and conceding seven at this stage.

They are not just blunt up front but they are leaking goals too. Sunday’s 3-2 defeat at AmaZulu was another example of the team’s struggles at the back.

The expectation is that Wednesday night’s match will result in a victory as I don’t believe there is an existing City fan that sees it otherwise.

That would complete the first block of the 23/24 campaign and hopefully will be able to mark that with a celebration with the fans in Saturday’s Supporters Fan Day.

Thereafter it’s going to be time for the Ikapa Derby against Cape Town Spurs to mark the reopening of the DHL Stadium and test out the freshly maintained pitch.

They have won cup titles and even qualified for CAF tournaments, so they can’t be completely wrong in how they do things.

They have a really savvy and street smart leadership that has been transferred over three generations.

But the main thing in diski is what you do on the pitch that remains most important.

Frustrated: Coach Eric Tinkler.Picture credit: Sydney Mahlangu

The main thing must always remain the main thing.

Fans need something to be attached to and it doesn’t help that there’s also been a high turnover of players coming in and out of the club as well.

It’s been business first and always when it comes to their commitment to players.

It feels like there’s a three-year plan, that will be marked as successful if a star player is sold within two years, and just comfortably disregard their commitment to being a contender.

What is the message to the fans this season?

Because it doesn’t sound like “title challenger” will not be a word the team can expect to be associated with in this campaign.

Come on City, turn that corner.

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cape town city fceric tinklersoccer