‘No magic wand’: Coach Dan Malesela after impressive start at Marumo Gallants
He has no magic wand to miraculously transform the club and has relied on making sure that his players start to believe in themselves, are better prepared on the training ground and play to their strengths.
These are the ingredients that have largely contributed to the dramatic turnaround masterminded by coach Dan Malesela at Marumo Gallants, who have moved out of the relegation zone on the back of a five-match unbeaten run.
Since Malesela joined the Limpopo club a few weeks ago, Gallants have moved from the bottom of the DStv Premiership and they will be eyeing a place in the top eight when they take on Cape Town City on Tuesday in Polokwane.
Since Malesela took over five matches ago, Gallants have produced four wins and one draw and they are currently the most on-form team with three successive victories.
“There is no magic wand,” said Malesela with a laugh.
“It was more of getting the players to be better prepared and have self belief because in all honesty these are not the type of players who you would really struggle with.
“There are things that we had to instil in them. We needed to change a few things here and there in terms of the approach to the game for them to find the purpose of playing matches.
“They have been enjoying possession but it didn’t yield results, so we needed to change the mindset to make sure that there is a purpose at the end of the day in terms of how do we use the 90 minutes to benefit the club.”
During recent wins over SuperSport United, TS Galaxy, Sekhukhune United and Swallows, Gallants scored seven goals but Malesela wants more from his attackers.
“That is what we tried to impart to the players, to give them the practical and creative side of things at training on how we can score goals and we can play purposefully.
“We are still missing a number of scoring chances but as long as we are creating, they will turn to be goals on a good day. That is the key thing. I was just worried about the lack of penetration and creating chances but now we are slowly working on that.
“The other problem is that now there is no time to train, we just have what is called half a session the day before the match. It is difficult but we see it as a challenge that we need to overcome.”
Malesela added that he is not surprised at the results they have managed since he arrived at the club.
“You need to expect good things, if you don’t then they will not happen. Training sometimes informs you and I think we are getting the right direction. The first two weeks we had two full sessions and we could do a number of things.”
He is expecting a tough battle from City who are sitting above them in the log standings.
“They are a ball-playing side which will excite the game. You must respect other clubs and you must know how they play all that stuff. But the bulk of our interest is based on our team and how we handle ourselves, whether defending or attacking.”