Middendorp frustrated by Spurs players' lack of confidence, character as they lose their 12th match
Cape Town Spurs coach Ernst Middendorp says players in the club lack character, as they continue to struggle in the DStv Premiership.
This after his side suffered their 12th defeat in 13 matches when they lost 3-0 to Stellenbosch in the Cape Town derby on Tuesday following strikes from Iqraam Rayners, Darrel Matsheke and Jayden Adams. Spurs remain bottom of the table and will need a miracle to survive automatic relegation.
Middendorp, who was in charge of his second match, with his first also ending in a defeat on Saturday to Royal AM, said he has to work on the character of his players.
"We were not a unified team to really show the character that we need to show when you want to stay in the Premiership," Middendorp told the media during the post-match press conference.
"This is something I have to address, probably a little bit deeper. At the moment you can see the character of the team is not the best. [In] the last 20 minutes [they] looked demotivated, looked frustrated and we were not functional as a team at all."
Middendorp also highlighted some individual errors as one of the reasons for their struggles and that this is due to their lack of confidence. "The two games we played were definitely disappointing," he said.
"Some moments you can say 'okay, acceptable', but a number of scenarios towards the end today [Tuesday], for example, not acceptable, and the individual mistakes we were making are just frustrating.
"It is something we really have to work on. Is it a question of quality, is it a question of whatever? this is something we have to change.
"The last 20 minutes of how we presented ourselves was a disaster. Compare the first game on Saturday and now three days later, it's a bit similar to a movie. If you look at the way we played in the first half, it could have been 0-0 or 1-1 or we should have taken a 1-0 lead."
It doesn't get better for Spurs as their next match is against Mamelodi Sundowns on December 13.