SLTV
One Day I Will Win The League
On TS Galaxy's Progress So Far This Season
In order for people to understand what we are doing now, we have to go back to the beginning when I joined the club in October 2021. If you remember when I started, TS Galaxy had two points after six games. At the time, Melusi Buthelezi, the goalkeeper, was the fourth choice, Given Msimango was not even in the matchday squad, Bathusi Aubaas was not playing that much, Mlu (Mlungisi Mbunjana), Marks Munyai, Tshego (Tshegofatso Nyama) were all not playing a lot. So, we changed things and after that we improved. We also sold seven players who went to some of the best clubs in this league as well as abroad. For example, (Aphelele) Teto, who came from the DStv Diski Challenge, went to Scotland (to join Livingston). Djakaridja Junior Traore went to Turkey (Istanbulspor) in the Super Lig. Name me another club where other top clubs are purchasing so many players from. Why is that so? What this says is that with our strategy, our vision, our training methods, our style of play and how we want the team to play, the players have improved and that is why some of the best clubs came and bought them.
So, this season, we started over again. Last season, we missed out on the Top Eight spot… and I will say with a little bit more luck, we could have made it. But it's the past, we cannot change it, but we learnt from it. Right now, we have a lot of players from the NFD (Motsepe Foundation Championship), from the DDC and we have started to build a team again. But the philosophy and our goal, in terms of how we want to play, hasn't changed. We have 24 players in the squad and we want everyone to improve, to become a better player, better person in every stage of their lives because it's not just about soccer, it's about the lifestyle as well. With the great atmosphere that we have in our 24-man squad, everyone can have a maximum training time and improve themselves so that they are able to show their qualities.
On What The Club's Goal Is For End Of The Season
Our goal is to finish in the Top Eight this season and I know that it's going to be very, very tough because a lot of clubs have financial power to buy high-class players. So, we have to improve our players. And what you see now in the last four games is that we continue to play our intense, hard, rock 'n' roll style of play that makes us difficult to play against. Of course, we analyse and formulate our game strategy based on the weakness of the opponents. My job, also, as the coach is to get my players in the right frame of mind. We have had a lot of opportunities in the last four games, but we just didn't score. This past weekend against Royal AM, we should have led in the first half by 4- or 5-0 up. The rules of the game often is, if you don't convert your opportunities, the chance to lose the game increases, and that is what happened. Yes, it's painful because we want to be up there fighting for the Top Eight spot, but we have to take the positives out of this situation. Speed, anticipation, passing creativity and game intelligence are some of the improvements in our squad. Besides finishing, we also need to improve the understanding of the relationship between space and time in football. For example, if a player is in a space that nobody occupies, he has time to think, then it becomes very dangerous. If he doesn't have enough space or time, then it becomes difficult. He needs to be challenged. Some players can do it against three opponents, but it becomes more complicated. So, I understand football as a space-time relationship. This concept is part of what our training philosophy addresses.
On Losing Seven Players 18 Months Ago
When we arrived, we recognised a player like Given Msimango, who had a great attitude and wanted to improve himself and he did, just like all the players in our squad. Now we have a player like "Killer" (Macbeth Mahlangu) that also has been part of our squad since I arrived, who replaced Given, and in the last four games he played fantastic. I also need to give a lot of credit to Pogiso Sanoka, who has played at the highest levels since my arrival. We have a lot of young players that are slowly improving and with discipline, hard work and dedication, will also reach their full potential. As a group in our journey, we need to accept, smile and embrace the pain. Pain is the gatekeeper of destiny. Pain is there to ask you one simple question. Do you really want to achieve your goals? Or are you just a talker? So far this season, I learned that my players have this kind of great attitude, because you don't win games with a million Euro player, you win games with million Euro attitude players. It is beautiful to see that my players are willing to improve themselves. In all the games that we have played, they stuck to the game plan and how we wanted to play against different opponents. We played beautiful in all the four games and dominated our opponents. I always ask my players, how can I get better? Have I achieved my full potential? And what can I do to get there? These parameters are, without a doubt, the key to any success. Our job here at TS Galaxy is to improve these players that we have and make our goal, which is the Top Eight spot, come true. Of course right now, we are a new club in this league and we sell players to top clubs and build again, but slowly, the club will get financially stronger, and then we want to attack and chase the top three. That is the vision because when you have a new club in the league, it's not easy to compete with all the financially stronger clubs. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day I will win the league.
Sead Ramovic,
TS Galaxy head coach
