Posted in News on Sep 12, 2007.
Starting on Tuesday the Chiefs coach began answering the fans e-mails. There were though a number of questions that were similar in nature and such questions were answered collectively by the coach. In addition Ertugral would like to thank all the fans who took time out to send him an e-mail, as he appreciates your questions as well as the various words of support that came to him from many fans not just in South Africa but across the globe.
Collective Questions:
Question: Coach could you please explain the reason behind putting Scara Ngobese and Gert Schalkwyk on the transfer list. What were your reasons for taking such a decision?
Answer: In today’s world football is not just about individual brilliance alone it is about being able to transform what you possess in terms of ability and technique, into helping the team to be successful. A lot of players in South Africa are good ball handlers but it takes a specific person to be able to know when to do certain things like pass the ball, take on a man, when to hold onto the ball etc. It is about being tactically disciplined on the field whether you are in possession of the ball or not, I like players who have agility, pace with acceleration and are powerful when they are in possession of the ball.
They must be able to use all of the above qualities to good effect in a team situation; it is all about collective success to me. The difference between a big club and a small one is that success is an institution at these teams and that the collective unit or the team is bigger than any one individual. I just felt that these players and others who were on the transfer list not all of the transfer list players some of them, were unable to fit into the philosophy of the team and could not deliver on what was expected of them.
Question: Coach why did you let David Radebe leave taking into account that you were the one who brought him to Chiefs from Free State Stars in 2002. Do you think he was given a fair chance?
Answer: That is true, David did come to Chiefs back during my last spell with the club, like I explained in the previous answer I used certain criteria to determine whether or not to keep certain players. The issue with David Radebe was different as I felt it would be harsh for me to keep him as he would not play much for us, obviously he would be competing for a place against David Mathebula, Mandla Masango and Thuso Phala so we took this into account and it was a difficult decision to let him go but it had to be done for the players own benefit. We could not hold him back as he would have stagnated over the next few years, the idea was to let him go elsewhere and play regular football, as he does not have many years left it was better to let him go.
Question: Coach what was the reasoning behind loaning Serge Djiehoua out for the rest of the season?
Answer: Firstly we needed to do something about the fact that we had too many foreign players on our books and it meant that in order for us to bring in Jonathan Quartey we had to let Serge go. Second of all I really do not feel that Serge is the kind of player that would have been able to fit into our pattern of play, so we loaned him out and we will see how things progress with him over the next season.
Question: Coach what are your objectives for the upcoming season, and for the remaining two there after which you are still contracted to Chiefs for?
Answer: One must remember that there was a lot that I needed to do with the team in the first few months that I was here, I began a process of elimination where by we needed to start putting aside anything that could adversely affect our progress as a team. So we began working on our fitness and tactical and technical aspects of the game, and we began introducing younger players that was one of my first objectives. The next step is to now get us playing in a certain way and obviously winning games, for the first and second phases I have given us around seven months starting in June to be on a certain level.
So by February or March we should be where we need to be, that means that I will be aiming for a top three finish in the league and to be successful in the ABSA Cup the Telkom Cup might be a bit too early for us to be at our peak. Then we move onto the next two seasons in 2008 – 2009 the obvious thing will be for us to go all out and win the title, thereafter conquering the African Champions league becomes our next priority and making it to the FIFA Club World Championships will be part of that plan. It is a step by step process and we cannot rush anything but will have to go at it slowly, and I feel that these are long term goals that are realistic.
Individual questions:
Matthews Masilela: I would like to ask the coach the reason for him playing Onismor Bhasera as a winger instead of a left back?
Ertugral: Well Matthew the answer is simple any team that wants to be successful needs a balance on both wings, with David Obua and Siphiwe Tshabalala injured we had an imbalance on the left side of midfield and we needed to fix that. I also noticed prior to my switching him that he favoured a more attacking approach so we opted to use Onismor as a left wing, he has done good for us in this role and we have Ditheko Mototo who we were able to get to fill in at left back and he has like wise done a good job. The thing is that we needed to be a bit experimental which we were switching guys around and it has paid off for us.
Sherwin Mogedi: Good day, my query is coach what are you going to do about losing Tshepo Bulu for the rest of the season, taking into account that Shaun Bartlett and Kaizer Junior had lengthy time out through injury last season?
Ertugral: You make a good point Sherwin the thing is that we have looked at the fact that Kaizer and Shaun along with a number of other players have had injuries that rendered them in effective for long time last season. That has been something that we have been working on for a couple of months now to ensure that we do not have recurring injuries to the same players, when it comes to Tshepo I must add that his operation went well and his rehabilitation work has continued on smoothly and he is making good progress and should be able to start training in the latter part of February early March.
Gregory Rammego: I would like to find out from the coach if he agrees with me that Chiefs need a playmaker. I am of the opinion that we don’t create enough chances to win games convincingly. It seems like the strikers drop too deep to get the ball. I have noticed in recent games that the likes of Bartlett and Khenyeza drop to midfield positions to try and find the ball. Our pattern of football is too predictable.
Ertugral: Thanks for your observation Gregory in some ways I agree with you and in others I feel that you are totally off the mark, first of all I do not believe that we are not creating enough chances. I have analyzed all three of our matches thoroughly and have come up with the following analyses, against Benoni we had eight clear cut chances to have made the score line more emphatic. In the game against Cosmos we created seven chances which could have easily won us the game, against Wits we had seventeen shots on target some hit the woodwork, and others their goalkeeper saved. So it is not a case of not creating enough goal scoring opportunities it is more a case of us not finishing off what we have started, if you watched the Wits game you would understand what I am talking about.
When it comes to the issue of a play maker their have been a number of fans suggesting that we find such a player, in my mind we do not need a playmaker what we need is an attacking midfielder. Some one who can fill the gap between the midfield and the attack line not necessarily a play maker, we need a person who can both create and score goals. With regards to the issue of where the strikers play Mabhudi is the kind of player who likes his freedom and prefers to be able to roam, he also prefers trying to win back possession once the ball has been lost. He is a striker with very different qualities to Shaun Bartlett, where as Shaun prefers playing deep in opposition territory Mabhudi approaches things differently.
Simangaliso Zwane: Like every other coach I am sure you have short and long term ambitions for the team. What are those and what are you doing to make sure they are realized?
Ertugral: I have covered that earlier in one of the common questions, I will though answer you slightly different and keep my answer to your question in an on the field context.
Firstly when I came here I saw that we had a very elderly look to our team and obviously for the long term that is not healthy, as we needed to blood younger players to ensure success in the future. So we went in search of trying to find the right balance between youth and older players, that was one of my first objectives and to some extent we have been able to get that sorted out. Then I needed to get them playing a style of football that would be suitable to us, we needed to get a game plan together one that the players and the fans would both be happy with. So we have worked on getting our style back and I think to some extent the fans have reacted positively to the way we are currently playing, these were my short and mid term goals regarding where I thought our football needed to go.
There is still a lot of work to do in order to have the team doing things exactly as I would like them, but I can safely say that at the moment we are on track to achieving those objectives.
David Tloti: Hi there, I would like to ask the following question to the coach, do you tell the boys not to be aggressive in the opening stages of matches that is what I gathered from our last two games. We tended to pick up the pace only when we went a goal down?
Ertugral: I could never give a team an instruction to take it easy in a game, my advice to the guys is to go out and score goals as early as possible as a coach it would be unthinkable for me to even let such a thought cross my mind. What I do agree with you though is the fact that we have had a reactionary in both the Wits and Cosmos games, we waited for the opposition to make the first moves not necessarily score. But we waited on them to make the first chances before we came at them and it is something that we will rectify, but it never is an instruction from me for them to sit back and wait for the opposition to make the first moves.
Elias Makosho Modiba: Thanks to the Chiefs management for giving us the opportunity to ask Muhsin Ertugral our questions. I just want to know Where David Obua fits in the teams. Is it a matter of him returning from injury, and he will he then be part of your plans?
Ertugral: David has been injured since I came to the club in June, so the first move was for him to get back to full fitness and be as sharp as we would like him to be. Obviously looking at his performance this past weekend with the Ugandan national team one would say that David is back to being close to his best, David is very much part of my plans. I feel that he is more suitable as an offensive player on the wing has this is his mindset and he showed that he can play along side the strikers on a number of occasions, David though does have stiff competition for a place in the team from Siphiwe Tshabalala, Mandla Masango and Kaizer Motaung Junior for a regular starting place in
the team. The fact that he was on song for his country over the weekend is good news for us as we are confident that he will transform that good performance for his country, into a match winning one for us.
