Having previously faced Cape Town City under Benni McCarthy and Jan Olde Riekerink, Stellenbosch head coach Steve Barker says he expects a calmer City bench under Eric Tinkler’s leadership.
City host Stellenbosch Stellenbosch at Athlone Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the first Cape derby of the 2021/2022 DStv Premiership season.
When he was asked what differences he expects from Tinkler to the teams coached by McCarthy and Olde Riekerink, Barker says it will be a lot less emotional under Tinkler.
“A bit of calmness on the bench, for one,” Barker said at the pre-match press conference.
“I think Eric has got good experience, he’s an mature coache who has had good success. I think he’s got the ability to bring the best out of his players on a consistent level, and basis.
“So, I think the game when Benni was here, there was a lot of emotion in the game, which ultimately does spill onto the field of play, so a lot of those games were very sort of emotional encounters.
“I do think this weekend is emotions, it is a derby, but I do however think it’s going to be a bit more about tactical application, and finding weaknesses in each other’s play and playing to the strengths on what you have available to you.
Barker also spoke about the targets of his side, saying they want to challenge Cape Town City’s log position in the longer term and ultimately also fight for league titles.
“So, I say we need to be brave as a team to go out and play and I also need to be brave in what I want to say is that, we as a football club, we want to compete, and we want to grow, and we want to develop and ultimately you want to be challenging to win leagues, and so on.
“So to achieve that, when we got promoted, I remember speaking to the team and saying that if we can finish above Ajax, we would have a really good chance of winning the NFD.
“I think, we also have our targets, but one of them would be to challenge, and be up there and competing with a team like Cape Town City, because if we can do it, they have really good team, and I think they’ll have a really good season, so if we can get close to them, even try and challenge their position on the log table to sort of have bragging rights in the Western Cape, it is a short term target of ours, but it’s not an easy one.
“And considering the players that they have, and with Eric in charge and the success that he’s had already with the club.
“So ja, that’s why I think it’s important for us to really put up a good show in the derby, roll our sleeves up and go out and fight for those three points.”
