Can we expect the same old exciting Golden Arrows under Filipovic?

Lamontville Golden Arrows have decided to follow the famous trend in South African football and have hired a foreign coach for the coming season.

Serbian-born Zoran Filipovic will lead Abafana Besithende in the upcoming Absa premiership season following the departure of Manqoba Mngqithi to Amazulu. I wonder if the Arrows management took the right decision.

Let me quickly point out that I am not against South African teams employing foreign coaches. They can bring value and much needed expertise to our football, given that they play their cards right.

Filipovic is an experienced coach, having worked with teams like Red Star Belgrade, Benfica and the Montenegro national side where his record was not bad at all, but coaching a PSL team is a different ball game.

First, we have come to appreciate Golden Arrows as a team that embraces beautiful football full of intricate passing, possession, creativity and individual brilliance, the ingredients that make football entertaining and easy on the eye. When Arrows win they win in style, when they lose they lose with honour. I wonder if that is all about to change.

Some foreign coaches have a tendency to try and impose coaching methods that clash with the natural ability of our players. When the players lose faith in their coach, the results can be embarrassing. Let’s not forget that Zoran is replacing a coach who knows and understands local footballers and their culture, a players coach.

Hopefully the new Arrows coach will improve on what Manqoba Mngqithi has already started. He will do well not to make a complete overhaul in terms of the team’s playing style. There are a few areas where Arrows need to improve, especially tactical awareness. The team showed signs of tactical naivety in a few crucial games that they could have easily won last season. Another grey area is discipline: the team needs to approach each and every game the same way as they approach their matches against the big teams.

Zoran’s countrymen, Kosta Papic of Orlando Pirates fame and Vladimir Vermezovic of Kaizer Chiefs came to our league and introduced their coaching philosophies without stifling our players natural ability and he will do well to take note of that or run the risk of being another foreign coach to come to the PSL with a big grin on his face only to leave the country with a heavy heart and a bag full of excuses.

Welcome to South Africa Mr Filipovic.