What Stoichkov should do

Mamelodi Sundowns have just hired another coach, their fourth manager since winning the league title in the 2006/07 season. As a coach hired on an expensive salary and brought from abroad, there are high expectations. Hristo Stoichkov — a former Bulgarian international — was part of Johan Cruyff’s dream team at Barcelona in the early 90s which won four Spanish titles between 91 and 94. He was also European Footballer of the Year in 1994 and a Golden Shoe winner at the 1994 World Cup. What can he do to prosper at a club were expectations are high every season, especially with the president, Patrice Motsepe, investing heavily?

Play good football
First, he should get the team to go back to their style of “piano and shoeshine”, which had served Sundowns so well in the past. This would mean a change of formation from the 4-2-3-1 that was favoured by his predecessors. Many people think it hinders the team going forward since you have to sacrifice a striker for an extra defensive midfielder. One of the biggest sins you can ever commit as a Sundowns coach is to be too defensive and grind out 1-0 results. The fans believe the team has to win and win in style, no wonder they are dubbed “Bafana ba style”. You can see the president wants that by the investments in Papi Zothwane, Lebohang Mokoena, Elias Pelembe and the re-signing of Lerato Chabangu. Flair is the way forward.

Communicate better
He should communicate with the media and players to get his instructions across. So far he has been refusing to give interviews to the media which has left many people wondering if he really knows how to speak English. If he gives interviews he will also be communicating with the fans, which will be a good way of letting them know what his plans for the team are. Henri Michel didn’t give many interviews and he lasted three months.

Win big games and all the games
All the players at Sundowns have big-game temperament — they have played against Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. Last season they failed to win all the games against the bigger teams in the country. That means he should win against the small teams but the fact of the matter is he should make Sundowns destroy everything before them.

Win the African Champions League
When he took over Motsepe said the club would dominate Africa and win the African Champions League. Winning the league would mean they have to lift the local title or at least finish second, which would qualify them for the African Champions League. Stoichkov has to win the PSL title and then conquer Africa.

Bring in younger talent
A number of players are just about to celebrate their 30th birthday or are older — Brian Baloyi, Calvin Marlin, James Mayinga, Dario Monteiro, Koketso Mmotong, Matthew Booth, Michael Manzini and Sibusiso Zuma. This does not amount to a healthy position in football. Though the academy has been running for a while now, it’s time we see some products coming out of there to carry the club forward instead of the president spending money every season on reinforcements. Some of the older players will have to be sacrificed for younger, quicker and hungry players. He should also identify and thoroughly scrutinise all players recommended to him, remember the South American imports brought in a few years back, only Jose Torrealba was a success from that trio and recently Jorge “Gattuso” Acuna. So, he should also sign his own players.

Galvanise a team
Three managers have come and gone since Ingesund had Sundowns playing like a team but since then all of them have failed to find a winning team. He should settle on his starting 11 very soon and stick to it so that they can build an understanding. Ingesund’s team had a target man and Lerato Chabangu/Jose Torrealba would just play off him. The team was successful because the big man held the ball well while the team came into attack as a whole. He should avoid the damaging results that saw the fans revolt against Michel.

Player discipline
All dressing rooms have vocal players. If players have issues they should take them up with him before they talk to the media or anything like that. If he is open with the players his future at the Brazilians looks safe. The coach should last and they can talk of long term but at the end of the day they want instant results. He has to avert the bad runs of losing two to three games in a row. So far he hasn’t done a convincing job in pre-season so when the league starts he has to win games. To charm the president he has to win all games, win in style and attend interviews.

So we’ll just have to wait and see what he has in store for us Sundowns supporters.