I’ve got to make unpopular decisions – Kaitano Tembo

The Natal Rich Boys barely got a shot on target as their opponent took their chances with goals from strikers Terrence Dzvukamanja and Etiosa Ighodaro.

Richards Bay brought in Tembo on the back of flirting with relegation last season, and the coach says he wants to see an improvement.

"I think the first thing is the performance. For me, I needed to see a little bit more character in terms of our performance. I saw from a few individuals, maybe we need to try and make some unpopular decisions in terms of our squad makeup. Try and change things here and there because I feel like we are lacking a little bit in certain areas," Tembo said.

Richards Bay host Golden Arrows on Tuesday and Tembo will have to find solutions for his goal-shy attackers.

"But at the same time offensively, we didn't look like we could score a goal because we didn't really bother them. Not enough runs into the box, not enough forward passes, not enough combinations. 

Our outlet couldn't really keep the ball longer to allow the other players and midfielders to join in hence our attack was always collapsing. So, we couldn't really get on a front foot."

Tembo does acknowledge there’s not enough time to work behind the scenes now that the season has kicked off.

"I would have preferred a little bit more time but we've got to just do what we can in this situation and try and fast track in terms of what we want and what we expect from the players. Hopefully, after Tuesday's game, we would have another week to try and fine-tune the team."