Tinkler Reaffirms Top-Three Target
Sekhukhune United coach Eric Tinkler has reiterated that the club’s primary objective remains securing a top-three finish in the Betway Premiership this season.
Sekhukhune are currently third on the log with 32 points from 19 matches, firmly in contention for a strong league finish. They are also chasing silverware in the Nedbank Cup, having progressed to the quarter-finals.
Tinkler: “Our Mandate Is the Top Three”
Tinkler made it clear that despite outside talk about a potential title challenge, the club’s mandate has not shifted.
“No difference from what I said at the beginning of the season, our target is the top three,” said Tinkler.
“You are the ones talking about leagues, I’m talking about the top three, that’s my mandate. If we won on Sunday, should we be competing for the league? Yes, but my mandate has not changed.”
“Nothing says we can’t go and win the next two games and close the gap, but every single game we go into, we plan and prepare to win it.
“I don’t have the luxury of planning and say yeah, I can get a point over there, the three points, no, these three points today are important.”
“Why? Because our target is the top three, the sooner we can create a gap between ourselves and everyone else to reach the top three, the better.
“And that’s what I said to the players to open that gap between ourselves, Kaizer Chiefs and AmaZulu, for me that’s the target and objective.”
Tinkler has revealed what Sundowns do well when they are playing, as compared to them, highlighting that his players lack quality.
“I think I have already mentioned to you, as the press, finer details. It’s the finer details that count,” Tinkler stated.
“We lack the finer details, that final quality. You have three opportunities to put the cross in; you don’t hit the front man. But if you have the finer details, the quality that cross comes in and that causes a threat.”
“The finer quality of recognizing, scanning, recognizing the time and space that you have, and then exploiting that space. Playing in the pocket, how and when am I playing in that pocket? Being able to recognize as a player to get in and how to get in those pockets.”
“Sundowns are very good with it. Those players are very, very good at it. Sometimes that is not coachable; you either have it or you don’t as a player. You either recognize the spaces, or you don’t,” Tinkler added.
