Magesi FC coach Allan Freese isn't sugarcoating the situation. Despite a spirited comeback against Chippa United, the "Crocodiles" remain rooted to the bottom of the table. Photo: Backpagepix
Image: Backpagepix
ALLAN FREESE has accepted that he is not the ‘saviour’ Magesi FC hoped he would be and has essentially resigned himself to being sent packing.
Brought in as a replacement for John Maduka, Freese was expected to take the Crocodiles out of the Betway Premiership relegation zone and into safety. But four matches into his tenure as coach, the Limpopo outfit still prop up the 16-team table, looking set for a return to the Motsepe Foundation Championship just two seasons after their promotion.
The former Platinum Stars coach could not lead the club to bagging maximum points this weekend. Magesi drew their home match against Chippa United 2-2 despite having created numerous chances which could have seen them render the clash a no-contest before the half-time break.
Instead, they found themselves trailing 2-0 and needed a late second-half rally to salvage a point — only the third one of Freese’s tenure.
“Well, my job was to motivate the players and help them to get to another level, which I am doing, as you can see,” Freese said, at the end of their clash with Chippa at Seshego Stadium. "Yes, the thing of not winning a game in so many games ...
"Okay, today was my fourth game. Four games, three points, not good. Not good at all. So out of 12, I'm supposed to be fired
The man who previously worked as an assistant to Rhulani Mokwena at Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca said they had done a lot of work towards ensuring the three points stayed at home.
“I think what we worked on during the week, to try to score, it worked,” he said, in reference to their getting the two goals via Mnccedisi Vandala and Sifiso Luthuli.
“Just that then we didn't score (from all the chances created). So, our biggest challenge was not putting the ball in the net, but everything that we worked on during the week, you could see the results. But put the ball in the net?
"No. So from that angle, I'm disappointed.
"I'm disappointed we did not win at home. After all the chances we created, after all the hard work that we did, we did not finish. I think we let ourselves down.”
Though he believes he should be fired for not delivering on his mandate, until that happens, Freese is prepared to continue knuckling down and striving to get Magesi out of danger.
“I'm going to go back and work with the players. Let's see where we can take the team to. I'm hoping that we can do better than what we did today.”
Next up for Magesi is a trip to Kaizer Chiefs at the weekend.