Igesund looks for more flowing football

Carl Peters|Published

Like a lot of other coaches in the Absa Premiership, Maritzburg United mentor Gordon Igesund is working to perfect player combinations.

The four-time league winner says the fact that most of the opening matches of the league season ended in stalemates at the weekend suggests teams are not settled yet.

Coaches may have done extensive work during pre-season training, including trying out different players in friendly matches, but even more needs to be done to meet competition standards.

"We are working on getting the guys to be more cohesive," said Igesund. "There were some things that we weren't happy about in our opening match against SuperSport United on Friday. The supply of balls to Brice Aka, our striker, was one of those.

"It's still early days and not every team is going to be settled right now - that will take three or four competitive matches to put right - but we have to do whatever we can in training to get the players to gel."

Igesund was happy to take a point off defending champions SuperSport and hoped for more of the same in next Wednesday's clash with BidVest Wits in Johannesburg, his team's first away assignment.

"We are working to get the flow of football better. For example, Rudolf Bester has a lot more to offer than he gave against SuperSport.

"I also have to decide whether to bring in our new Senegalese defender, Mor Diouf," Igesund said. "He did not play against SuperSport because of his lack of English. But he is a quality player and now I have to decide whether to just put him in and see how he copes, or first work on his English, considering he has to operate within a unit where communication is critical."

Meanwhile, Golden Arrows are in the process of recruiting a striker.

Club owner Mato Madlala would not name the player yesterday, but said they hoped to have him available for Sunday's clash with AmaZulu in the MTN8 semi-finals, first leg at Chatsworth Stadium.

So far Arrows have made only low-key signings for this campaign, hoping to turn the largely inexperienced players into stars, as they have done with several other players down the years.

Madlala said that while she was happy with her men having kept clean sheets in their first two matches of the season, there was a need to become punchier in attack. "After all, we are going to need goals to get into the MTN8 final!"

She said poor pitches was partly to blame for her team's lack of quality football in the two matches played, and she had complained to the Premier Soccer League about that.

"When we played Free State Stars in the Cup last Wednesday, as well as when we played Swallows in the league on Saturday, the pitch was terrible. So, we have complained to the League about that and we hope something will be done soon.

"How can you play good football on a poor pitch?"