Cape Town - New Ajax Cape Town coach Stanley Menzo steps into the office for the first time on Monday morning - and, no doubt, there are both positive and negative thoughts swirling around his head.
After yet another defeat on Saturday night - 2-0 to SuperSport United - the 53-year-old former Ajax Amsterdam goalkeeper certainly knows he’s taken on a difficult, mammoth challenge.
He won’t have too much time to settle in, though, as Ajax are back in action on Wednesday, when they are in Bethlehem to take on a much-improved Free Stars in a PSL fixture at Goble Park (kick-off 6pm).
Menzo watched from the stands when the Cape side lost to SuperSport at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night. For the new coach, while there was the negativity of another loss, there was also the encouragement of the team’s performance, which was definitely a lot better.
The new Ajax coach is schooled in the “Ajax Way”. He spent most of his career at Ajax Amsterdam and was a member of the Dutch club’s famous squad that won the 1986-87 European Cup. As a player, he represented the Netherlands in the 1990 World Cup - and, as a coach, he assisted Marco van Basten, who was in charge of the Dutch national team at the 2006 World Cup.
The pedigree is certainly there, but now the hard work begins. And hard work it will be indeed as, at the moment, Ajax can’t even buy a win. Menzo has promised to bring back the famed Ajax possession-based style of play, but even the new coach, experienced as he is, will admit that, right now, winning comes first. The niceties of attractive, entertaining football, based on the Ajax way, can only be re-introduced once the team starts to win again, and once it commences the long, difficult climb up the PSL log.
Assistant-coach Mich d’Avray took charge of Ajax for Saturday’s fixture, after the departure of the former head coach, Roger de Sa, last Thursday. Truth be told, despite the defeat, there was much to like about the Cape side’s performance. There was energy, there was heart and, for once, they kept possession, rather than hand the ball back to the opposition, as they had been doing in recent games. The problem is still the inability to convert their dominance of ball and territory into goals.
“It’s trying times for everyone at the club, and it has been for the last few weeks,” said D’Avray. “I guess when you’re struggling, the football gods just don’t smile at you. Before the game, during the warm-up, (right-back) Abel Mabaso pulled up with a groin injury and we had to change our tactics. And then, just three minutes into the game, we’re on the back foot, a goal down.
“But I can’t fault the team on the performance, the effort was there. They tried, we had chances, and we had a real go at them. The one thing I was pleased about was that we never played with fear. Sometimes when a team is struggling, you’ll find that players hide, but they didn’t, and that’s a positive. Look, we just have to keep going, but the bottom line is that we have to start picking up points soon. Football is a confidence game and I’m sure we just need a win or two and things will start moving again.”
D’Avray, who prepared the team, and picked the players to do duty on Saturday, admitted the squad was downcast when De Sa quit.
“When Roger departed the dressing-room wasn’t a nice place to be,” he said. “Roger’s a player’s coach, well liked, and the squad was affected. I tried to lift them during training and I think they were okay before the game against SuperSport. The defeat is certainly not as a result of Roger leaving, it happens in football and, Roger, I’m sure, would say the same thing. There are only two types of coaches in football - those that are sacked and those about to be sacked.”
Menzo, pictured, has only been in the Mother City since April, and was working as Ajax’s Head of Youth. Because of this, D’Avray knows that, as the assistant-coach, he still has an important role to play in acquainting the new coach about the ins-and-outs of the PSL.
“Stanley has been here a few months. There has been criticism about the team not playing the Ajax way’. I won’t say too much about that, except to ask whether we have the personnel for it. But Stanley is from Ajax Amsterdam, and he’ll try to bring that system and style into play. His lack of knowledge of the local game may be a challenge, but there’s enough of us around to assist him.”
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Cape Times