Comitis calls for cool heads at Ajax
AJAX CAPE TOWN chief executive George Comitis says they are not about to make any “emotional decisions” after club supporters called for coach Maarten Stekelenburg’s head following their 5-1 home defeat against Pretoria University on Saturday afternoon.
The loss saw Ajax slump to second-last on the Premiership log, following their fourth defeat of the campaign. The Cape side have only a solitary victory and a draw to show for their six matches in the league so far.
Sections of the meagre home crowd at Cape Town Stadium chanted “you must go” in Stekelenburg’s direction as Ajax pressed the self-destruct button with probably their worst second-half display since their 6-0 hammering in the MTN8 final a few years ago.
Aubrey Ngoma scored four goals and Mame Niang contributed the other on the day for Tuks, who maintain their unbeaten run in the league since gaining promotion after winning the National First Division last season.
Lebogang Manyama, who replaced Paul Rusike in the starting line-up, initially gave Ajax the lead in the first half, a goal which would turn out to be their only cheer.
“Look, obviously we can’t sit back and wait for things to get worse, but we will not be making any emotional decisions,” Comitis told the Cape Times yesterday afternoon.
“We need cool heads at the moment, because this is no time to panic. I will meet with the technical staff – as I normally do – on Monday to try and find out why we are not getting the results.”
Stekelenburg was promoted from his role as head of youth when he replaced the popular Foppe de Haan at the start of last season. The Urban Warriors finished a disappointing ninth place in his first season in charge, as the team struggled to replicate their form from the previous term.
This season, Ajax have mixed the sublime with the idiotic, although the sublime has basically only been evident during their solitary win of the campaign – a 4-1 home victory over Platinum Stars.
Mistakes and commitment on the field have been Ajax’s major issues, and it was evident on Saturday that the club’s fans are getting a bit jittery.
“We understand the supporters want the team to do well, and they do get emotional when we don’t get the results. But we don’t run this club with emotion, and I can assure the fans we are doing everything we can to get the team winning again,” Comitis added.
However, the Ajax boss was rather coy about the notion that the in-fighting at board level is impacting negatively on the team.
“I’m not prepared to discuss those matters,” was Comitis’s prompt response after being quizzed on the issue.
Meanwhile, Stekelenburg is worried that the heavy defeat will negatively influence his players mentally ahead of their trip to bottom club AmaZulu next Saturday.
“We are in a bad space at the moment, and we need to make sure we turn things around as quickly as possible,” Stekelenburg said after the match. “What will turn things around is working very hard and getting results. It is always difficult in these circumstances, this is going to affect players in their heads.”
Meanwhile, the National First Division is set to kick off this weekend, the Premier Soccer League said. The PSL executive committee and members of the NFD met last week to iron out their differences after the second-tier clubs refused to start the league because of money issues.