AmaZulu head coach Brandon Truter says there’s no reason to panic and the only pressure on his job right now is what he puts on himself.
Truter boldly claimed he would like to go one further than the top-four mandate set out by the board and show ambition to challenge Mamelodi Sundowns for the title this season.
Having made several high-profile signings in the off-season with the likes of George Maluleka, Gabadinho Mhango among 11 new faces in the squad, a target of one trophy was set.
But after a promising unbeaten start in their first four games of the season, the shock defeat to Golden Arrows resulted in a four-game winless run in the league as they dropped to sixth place and seven points behind Mamelodi Sundowns after their late win at Loftus Versveld.
“Coming into the game against Sundowns, they lost twice and us as well and it’s the best team in South Africa, the champions at the moment and former African champions,” Truter responded to iDiski Times on Sunday when asked if he’s feeling the pressure now.
“Everybody has lost in the league [at least] twice, we’ve lost three but it could have gone either way [against Sundowns]. If it went the other way it would have been Sundowns three [defeats] and us two. There’s still 22 games to play so why should we panic? We have a good team, good structure – we started like a house on fire. The two losses in a row boil down to mentality, that two losses.
“At one stage Arrows were last on the log, we lost that game, Chippa was last, we lost that game – it’s mentality, tactical execution and then getting results and winning those types of games. That’s the difference between Sundowns and the rest of the league at the moment, winning the games that matter most but of course like I said it’s two or more [losses] for each team in the league, so we should be fine.
“If I’m under pressure, I’m under pressure by myself to win games, because I don’t like losing any games.”
Speculation has been rife that Truter is living on borrowed time but with Usuthu in the semi-final of the MTN8 against Kaizer Chiefs – it could be the reprieve the former Swallows boss needs to silence the critics and solidify his status in the hot seat.
