Vasili Manousakis lays bare the Cape Town Spurs challenges

By Mazola Molefe
25th October 2023

Cape Town Spurs assistant coach Vasili Manousakis has laid bare the challenges the DStv Premiership rookies face in their uphill battle for survival.

Despite sacking Shaun Bartlett and replacing him with Sean Connor, who still had not acquired a work permit to sit on the bench in their previous match, the Urban Warriors remain bottom of the table.

Manousakis says they are pulling out all the stops to work on turning results around.

"There are some sports psychologists that are doing the rounds, speaking to the boys, trying to get them to open up. We're certainly doing that. We're having one-on-one meetings. Tryna get to know the boys, see what makes them tick. We had a small team building but even that was just very short. We don't have the time, we haven't had the time," Manousakis said.

With Connor initially hired as the club’s technical director and then later taking over as head coach, Manousakis adds the Irishman has his own style of play which requires patience.

But Spurs do not have a lot of it.

"We try to put a lot of effort on the training pitch and have double sessions whether they are both on the pitch or video analysis because the reality is that the interim head coach which is the technical director, Sean Connor, wants to play in a little bit of a different way and it takes time to play that way. It's not like you have a preseason or you have a January break where you really got time to work these things out," Manousakis explained.

Spurs have now suffered nine successive defeats on the back of being eliminated from the Carling Knockout Cup by Orlando Pirates last week, a side they will face again on 1 November in the league.

Manousakis admits the reality is Spurs are on the backfoot as a newly promoted team.

"I think what we can see is the difference between the PSL [DStv Premiership] and the first division [Motsepe Foundation Championship] is very, very big and me of all people know that from my time at Richards Bay. So, ya, we just gotta keep working, keep encouraging, keep getting them to believe and if there are one or two germs, free agents that we can approach, well that's what we'll have to do."