This week's DoRego's revolving blog features SuperSport United's Bevan Fransman
I think we've got a good bunch of guys and everyone has welcomed the new signings to the team. Ja, from what I see so far, I think guys like Bradley Grobler and Prince Hlela are being integrated into the squad very smoothly, without hiccups. I just hope from their side that they're happy, ha, ha, ha.
On facing Orlando Pirates, it's similar to the start of the season where we played them three games in a week. That was just as tough because it was the second week of the season and I think it was even tougher than now. But, ja, it's a tough game to start with, I'll admit to that, considering all the talent they have. We just have to be ready for what's coming! It's an away game for us. But for a team as big as Pirates, with their fan base, even if they are going to play at our home ground, they are going to have home ground advantage because of the amount of supporters that they bring. We just have to deal with playing in their backyard and it's always a motivation playing against a team like Pirates. As a defender playing against Pirates, you know you are going to have your hands full... same with Kaizer Chiefs, same with Mamelodi Sundowns. They have midfielders who can give supply to the forward players. They have fantastic players and when you have strikers like Collins Mbesuma and Benni McCarthy, you just need half a chance to score. You have to be on your toes all the time, you know. It's definitely going to be a challenge tonight!
I think at the moment we need to take it one game at a time, you know, starting from tonight, and then go from there. It's going to be a tough climb up the league table, considering the massive points gap between the team in first position and the others. It's quite a big gap at the moment. I don't think we realistically set our sights on first position, but definitely we have to be up there with the other teams and close the gap.
We play DRC's Don Bosco in the Caf Confed Cup and then we come back to AmaZulu a few days later, ha, ha, ha! Look, they are a closed book to us at the moment, which is a bit tricky I will admit. But we have to go, prepare ourselves as much as we can and get the job done. It's no use complaining and saying, 'We don't have information on the team.' We just have to go there and get a result. It's a really tough competition, with the travelling and all that, but we just have to be as professional as we can about playing away and expect the unexpected. It's always tough in Africa and the conditions aren't always what you'd like, but you have to deal with it. We need to take it seriously, although I don't know where people get the idea that South African teams don't take the African competitions too seriously. But ja, we'd like to go as far as we can in this tournament.
We play three games in seven days. Oh, the schedule's definitely tough! Three games in a week...it's gonna take its toll after a while on the players. But I think we have some depth in our squad to deal with unforeseen injuries (God forbid that happens, we don't need any more injuries at the moment!) Going up and down isn't going to be easy, but we have to do it.
I was a bit disappointed to miss two league games. I missed one on suspension, which was silly. But the other one was due to injury, which you can't do anything about as a footballer. But it's been okay. I just wish we could be further up the log compared to where we are at the moment. That's the disappointing thing. We let some games slip from the defensive side and I have to try and better that in the second round. That's my real focus now. It's been good working with Gavin Hunt for the past six months. You know, as a coach, you have your ups, you have your downs, but that's part of football. You have to take it and just come out on the other side. We've got a good working relationship. As for the game here, the strikers are much more mobile moving off the ball and don't always stay in the central zone. They like to drift wide and there are a lot of exchanges within the formations and that means I have to be more disciplined tactically. But I'm enjoying the challenge so far since I've been back. I'm enjoying football, it's nice, I'm happy at the moment and I've got no complaints.
We had an event on Saturday in Atteridgeville and we mingled with the supporters. I'd like to encourage them to keep coming to the stadium because all players like playing in front of a full stadium, so we'd like more bums on seats!
Bevan Fransman,
SuperSport United
