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Kaitano Tembo

NEWLY-appointed SuperSport United coach Kaitano Tembo says he’s not worried about the pressure and expectations of his new role, insisting he’s already accustomed to such demands.

The Zimbabwean, who has been part of the SuperSport set-up for 19 years, first as a player and then a coach, was named head coach ahead of the coming season last Friday, a promotion from the caretaker role he had taken up since Eric Tinkler’s departure in March.

Despite reaching the Caf Confederation Cup final and winning the MTN8, SuperSport only staved off relegation on the last day of the 2017/18 season in a league campaign to forget, and will look to display an improved showing this time round.

Yet Tembo insists that despite the added pressure as the new head coach to change the club’s fortunes, he is unperturbed.

“With our jobs there’s always pressure,” he said. “I’ve been in charge for the past seven months, and there was already pressure, as we could have been relegated. So for me its pressure all the time, no matter where we are, but at least now we’re starting on a clean slate where we can bounce back. Football is all about pressure, but I can take it.”

SuperSport did not start the new season convincingly, however, going down 2-0 to Cape Town City in the Mother City, yet Tembo says he was happy with his team’s performance.

“We were not effective in some areas and our decision-making in the final stages probably let us down,” he said.

“But I’m happy with the overall performance of the guys. I think we played well considering we were playing away from home, but at the same time we came here to get a positive result. We got into areas where we could have influenced the game, and we can only build on that going into our next game.”

SuperSport next face off against AmaZulu in their first home league match of the season tomorrow. – KickOff