Sekhukhune United coach Eric Tinkler has weighed in on the title race this season, saying teams are catching up with Mamelodi Sundowns and it has made things interesting this time around.
Orlando Pirates are currently in pole position on the Betway Premiership table with 38 points after 16 outings, followed by the defending champions with 35 points.
Tinkler’s Sekhukhune are third with 32 points, while Kaizer Chiefs and AmaZulu are in fourth and fifth places, respectively, both on 30 points but with Chiefs having three games in hand.
The former Bafana Bafana midfielder says this is not so much about the Brazilians who may appear like they are not doing well but about other sides’ improvement.
“I think without a shadow of doubt, in my mind Pirates and Sundowns are without a shadow of doubt, the two best teams currently in the league,” said Tinkler.
“Pirates started poorly against us, we beat them, but gradually they’ve grown and they’ve got better and better.
“So Sundowns, that’s another level I’ve mentioned this before. The points tally that they currently have is not far behind where they were last season. I think they are only a point behind what they had the previous season.
“But everybody sees it as though they are doing poorly but in reality, they’re not, other teams have got better.
“Pirates have got better, we’ve got better, Chiefs have got better, AmaZulu have got better, they’ve collected more points. So for that reason, it makes it look like Sundowns are not achieving it’s just everybody else’s playing a bit of catch up, and have caught up, and it’s obviously made the league more interesting.
“The last four seasons, they’ve won it by 12 points or something ridiculous. So it’s been up to the other clubs now trying to play catch up to close that gap.
“And I think you’ve seen an improvement by a number of clubs, Chiefs, us, AmaZulu started well. Polokwane [City] started the season really, really well in terms of the points collected. Durban City started the season really, really well in terms of points collected.
“But now it’s the second half of the season. I’ve already seen a couple of matches now where teams that did well in the beginning of the season not doing as well as they did.
“So there’s going to be that up and down but in order to really compete for the league, that can’t happen. You got to be winning your games and that’s not easy.”
