Johannesburg - The Premier Soccer League’s so-called smaller clubs have to be “smarter” than their rich-in-resources rivals if they have any hope of one day clinching the championship.
This is according to Clinton Larsen, the Golden Arrows coach who was on Modnay named recipient of Coach of the Month accolades for August and September.
Larsen had appeared to have turned Arrows into a surprise package earlier this season by occupying the top of the table after just six matches, but the KwaZulu-Natal side had slipped further down the standings to sixth place by the halfway point and the likelihood is that they would have to double their efforts to even finish in the Top 8 in May.
“Seeing that there is no budget, we would have to be smarter in our recruitment and find players who are almost out of contract to sign them as free agents to get ahead of the so-called big clubs,” Larsen explained.
But the challenge, though, is that these players will almost always pick Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns, SuperSport United and Bidvest Wits over lowly Arrows.
“We have to keep our ears on the ground on who is out of a contract soon, and we need to promote from within and that is something we have done. The club took the decision to be small and keep budget down,” Larsen continued.
“We have 33 players including those that play in the Diski Challenge (reserve league). That has worked to a certain extent, but we need to be injury free because we don’t have the same depth as the top five teams. When we have injuries, we are hard hit, but that is not the same for the bigger clubs.”
The Absa Premiership resumes on Tuesday after a six-week break due to the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, and Arrows face a tough away fixture at SuperSport, who were league leaders going into the lengthy recess, at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Wednesday night. Five points separate the two sides.
“We have gone off the boil a little bit, but we have set ourselves targets this season after collecting 20 points from the first 15 games. We have fallen short of what we aimed to achieve in the first round of the campaign, though,” Larsen said.
“I wouldn’t call us dark horses for the title. Anyone from position one to nine can consider themselves in with a chance to win the league.
"It’s so open at the moment. We are hoping for consistency in the second half of the season and hoping to achieve that target.
"We know it won’t be easy because teams will come back stronger. But it’s important to keep doing what we are doing.”
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