Cape Town Spurs head coach Ernst Middendorp has confirmed that teenage sensation Luke Baartman is likely to play against AmaZulu, while he has some selection headaches due to several players having flu.
Spurs had a start to forget after winning only one of their 14 matches so far, which resulted in the sacking of Shaun Bartlett.
Middendorp has been in charge of Spurs’ last three games but has lost all of them, but the German tactician is hoping for some improvements from his team in Friday’s clash with Usuthu.
“Of course we have been busy reflecting more individually with the skills we have seen from the players in this match against Sundowns,” Middendorp told iDiski Times.
“I think it was quite clear in a certain direction, in particular transition going forward, movement, entering into the final third, was definitely not existent and good. We tried to work on it during this last couple of days, hopefully, we will see a little bit more in this department in the game against AmaZulu on Friday.”
The experienced coach confirmed the return of Baartman, while also admitting that his squad has been hit by flu.
“Luke is back,” he added.
“I believe we could have forced him to play against Sundowns but we have to be a little bit careful, he is a young guy and definitely a player you have to look in what you can expect from him.
“Luke Baartman is definitely available, definitely will play. Jarrod [Moroole] is not available, Colin [Ryan] is not available, we have some guys with flu.
“We are just looking and try to find out, probably one or two we will take but we cannot take all. It’s Morne [Nel], it’s Keagan Buchanan, it’s Michael Morton, it’s Khaya [Mfecane], just to mention some of the guys who are suffering a little bit.
“Probably one or two we will take, we cannot go with the number of players onto the field, we’re already handicapped before we start.”
