PSL more Sundowns, Pirates and the rest says Muhsin Ertuğral

The Turkish mentor returned to the dugout early last month after City fired Eric Tinkler following a string of poor results.

Ertugral has been thrust back into the thick of things in the PSL since then and has naturally made a few observations.

A former Chiefs and Pirates coach, the 65-year-old is concerned both Downs and The Buccaneers could be difficult to catch.

"Bafana Bafana is doing fantastic and Sundowns and Pirates competing in African football so I think those teams, especially those teams are in a far beyond level that is in South African and there is a big gap in my opinion between those teams and the rest,” Ertugral said.

“So, that’s what we need to look into. When you look also on the log, it shows you and these two, three teams are really far advanced and yeah we need to educate our young players a bit more, you see that in Cape Town, we are doing that."

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Ertugral emphasises again that the contributing factor towards narrowing this gap is through youth football, which currently lacks the basics. 

"The point is that obviously, the standard of youth has to be, we need to give them a little bit more opportunities in the education part. So, everything is very one taste, sometimes I feel like on the highway standing around and everybody passes me,” he added.

“All entries in the last third are like everybody wants to go forward but there are elements that you need to suck the opponents out, so you need to stay on the ball a little bit longer. So, that means certain pattern education formats."

Cape Town City will still bring in a new coach next season, with SABC Sport reporting that Andries Ulderink is the firm favourite to take over.

Ertugral is clear that his role is that of sporting director.