Ertugral playing favourites?
2008-03-06 14:39
Johannesburg - Kaizer Chiefs' coach Muhsin Ertugral, still under pressure after a string of poor results, has now come out to defend himself against accusations of playing favourites.
Approached after their 0-0 draw against Platinum Stars to question the Turkish-born coach about complaints heard in the tunnel that he had brought in a player, Shaun Bartlett, who had allegedly only attended one training session during the week.
Ertugral was forthright in admitting that the Phefeni Boys' skipper had not been at training.
However, he defended his decision to play Bartlett, saying: "We had a game on Saturday and there were a few players that needed time to recover from knocks. Bartlett was one of them and that is why he was given two days to rest."
Commenting on their drawn game against Stars at Loftus Stadium, Ertugral also admitted that the spirit in his camp was at its lowest ebb.
"The players are trying hard to do things right, but results are not forthcoming and this is killing their confidence.
"The technical team is working hard to restore confidence in the squad and hopefully we will be able to achieve that soon."
Meanwhile, Stars' coach Miguel Gamondi has hit out at referee Victor Hlongwane and his assistant referees and says they cost his team victory against Chiefs.
Gamondi pointed to the incident in the game when his striker Luis Renteria was brought down inside 18-yard area but referee ordered a place kick outside the box.
"In fact, we deserved to get two penalties. Mmotong was victim of rough tackles at one stage. He (Hlongwane) even failed to show Fabian McCarthy a yellow card.
"Had there been better officiating, we would have walked away with the three points because I believe my players did well, especially in the second half."