Winless Spurs need a ‘change of mentality’

Cape Town Spurs assistant coach Vasili Manousakis has challenged his players to change their mentality as they plan to turn things around.

After eight rounds of matches in the DStv Premiership, Spurs have endured a woeful start as they remain winless and without a point as they prop up the table.

Manousakis, who is assisting temporary coach Sean Connor following the departure of Shaun Bartlett, said the confidence of the players was low and they were working on it to improve the team.

“I think the first thing is to change the mentality. At the moment, it’s all about physiological and mental aspects and the boys are very low in confidence,” Manousakis told the media.

“We need to start picking up points. Every game that has passed, we didn’t pick up points. It just makes it a little bit difficult.

“But again, the spirit is high, the attitude is good. We are sharing our philosophy with the players and they seem to be on board.”

Manousakis added they needed to start picking up points before it was too late and were planning to bring two free-agent players to help them.

“If we turn it around soon, eight games is already late. Once you get to ten, you almost have to win every second game, which is a very tough task,” he said.

“But the management is listening. I think there are one or two free agents we are trying to recommend and push to add a little bit of depth into the team.”

Having to play Orlando Pirates in the Carling Knockout next weekend before hosting Stellenbosch in the league match on October 28, Manousakis said they would use the upcoming match to try different combinations.

“The Carling Knockout allows us to get our confidence back. We are underdogs. No-one is going to give us a chance, especially against Pirates’ fantastic cup team, but sometimes you need these games to go out and express yourself and that can lift the confidence.

“We need to see we are getting closer to playing the way we want to play. We will be trying different combinations so that we are ready to face Stellenbosch in the next league encounter.”