THE fans of Ajax Cape Town hoping to see the back of Stanley Menzo had better not hold their breath.
The embattled coach has retained the full support of his boss Ari Efstathiou, who is committed to giving him more time in the hot seat.
But Menzo should not be lulled into a false sense of security, as local club bosses tend to go back on their word quick.
Ajax have been terrible this season, picking only 10 points from a possible 36 so far, before last night’s game against Chippa United at Bidvest Stadium.
They have barely moved from the bottom three in the Absa Premiership, and remain under massive pressure to collect points.
Yet Efstathiou is adamant Menzo’s future is safe and believes it won’t be long before the Dutchman turn things around for the better.
“It’s not the time to be speaking about the coach. He’s a capable coach with lots of experience and we chose him because of his credentials,” said Efstathiou.
“Like every other coach, he needs things to go his way a little bit, and they haven’t. Hopefully, his fortunes will change. We’re feeling positive about the next two games.
“Of course, we’re concerned with where we are at the moment. But with the current log standings, a win or two could change our position,” Efstathiou added.
Two wins from 12 matches, however, tells of a team in a crisis, even though Efstathiou wouldn’t want to look at the situation that way. He reckons the team have performed well, but have just been let down by results.
They have won only once in their six matches and face tougher challenges in their next two games, first against newly-crowned Telkom Knockout champions Bidvest Wits tonight and Chippa United this weekend.
“We haven’t played too badly but we’ve had unfortunate situations, like when we conceded two goals in five minutes.
“Luck hasn’t been on our side. But it has happened before and it changes. We have to change things in the next couple of days,” Efstathiou said.
Menzo has lamented his player’s poor decision-making during their winless run, consistently highlighting shortcomings as the reason for their poor results.
He sounded defeatist in a recent media interview, which might have been damaging the players’ confidence rather than encouraging.
