JOHANNESBURG - The Spanish word of the day - yesterday, in Stuart Baxter’s arrangement with SuperSport United’s transport administrator Pedro Nxusa of teaching him a word a day - was tranquilo.
Baxter is doing this because there is a possibility that Matsatsantsa a Pitori will hold their pre-season in Spain, after they couldn’t do it there leading up to this season. That word, which means tranquil in English, perfectly fits Matsatsantsa’s camp with Baxter in charge.
Four months into the job, Baxter guided SuperSport to Nedbank Cup glory in May. And they are now on the verge of breaking the club’s record for the longest unbeaten run. If Matsatsantsa don’t lose to Ajax Cape Town at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday, the Tshwane side will have gone 18 league matches without a loss.
It’s this tranquil environment that has the Scottish coach unmoved by the mentioning of his name among the people that Safa looked at for the vacant Bafana Bafana job.
The 63-year-old intends to stick around with SuperSport for a long time, even pointing out with pride that the club are building an artificial pitch at their training base in Sunninghill. The only thing that should concern Baxter at the moment is why his team start slowly before returning to the second half all-fired up.
SuperSport have scored 22 of their 31 goals in the second half, including six against Orlando Pirates, five past Golden Arrows and four against Maritzburg United.
“Those are trends,” Baxter said. “They aren’t a reflection of the work we do. Everybody keeps asking, what is it that you say at half-time, as if I have this magic wand I weave at the break. It’s not like that.
"The game plan you have at the start of the game sometimes doesn’t work because your opponents are as fired up as you are and you cancel each other out. And then they go into half-time thinking, ‘wow, we did a good job’ and they relax a bit. We don’t relax. Yes, we do work properly at half-time but I don’t think it’s because we can’t start the game well. We can. The thing is we have opponents on the other side of the field who don’t want us to score.”
Baxter is slowly getting to the point where every SuperSport player is available for selection as they have been heavily hit by injuries. Only Bradlely Grobler and Denwin Farmer are still out, while others are working towards being match fit.
Despite missing key players, Matsatsantsa ended 2016 at the summit of the Absa Premiership and reached the final of the Telkom Knockout.
That’s because the players were driven to carry the club to a better place, knowing that there weren’t too many options to come from the bench or the stands. What will be key is ensuring they have the same mentality, even though there are a lot of options for Baxter on the bench and in the squad.
“Complacency is the enemy,” Baxter said. “I don’t think it will creep in, in the situation that we are in. We would have to be almost moronic to be complacent because of the journey we have had, battling to be where we are.”