'We're ready to win some games now,' says Galaxy coach Ramovic ahead of clash against Baroka

TS Galaxy find themselves looking over their shoulders as they sit bottom of the Premiership table and winless after eight matches, but coach Sead Ramovic has said it is only a matter of time before he turns things around as the players are slowly starting to understand how he wants them to play.

Ramovic, the German-born coach who replaced Owen da Gama as the Rockets mentor at the beginning of October, with club owner-chairperson Tim Sukazi waxing lyrical about the 42-year-old being on a Uefa Pro licence programme, started his tenure with a home 1-0 defeat against AmaZulu in Mbombela. Another loss by the same scoreline followed, this time away to  Maritzburg United in Pietermaritzburg in his first two matches in charge.

Galaxy dominated both matches and created opportunities to score but did not put them away.

“The key thing is that I believe the players are slowly starting to understand my philosophy and how I would like to play, and I think we showed it in the past two matches,” Ramovic said before Galaxy’s match at home against Baroka at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit (Mbombela) on Tuesday.

Galaxy are bottom of the DStv Premiership standings with just two points from eight matches, and are still searching for their first win of the season.

Ramovic said he has been working hard on two key aspects of their game in training in the 10 days he has had to fine-tune the team for Baroka.

“First it is to defend well. If you don’t defend well as a team you will always struggle, and second we have to improve our offensive play because we had a lot of chances, but we did not score.

“We had a great week and the players are ready, and I believe we will be able to turn things around and be back on track.

“You know, if you want to have a chance against any team in the league, you have to be at your best.

“We have had a great week on the training field and I believe we are ready to give our best to win some games now.”

Ramovic said his philosophy is to retain the ball, a trait that Galaxy have become synonymous with since their days with coach Dan Malesela, but their failure to score has always stood out like a sore thumb.

“Ball possession is really important, because if you don’t keep the ball then you don’t have chances to score and you have a chance to concede a goal.

“It is very important that you have the speed, the passing creativity, good formation, good pressure, good transitions, it is a lot of things, not just to keep the ball.

“And of course, tactically, it is very important that everyone on the field should know what they should do.”

Galaxy beat Baroka and drew the corresponding fixture last season but captain and striker Mxolisi Macuphu has said that will count for nothing on Tuesday.

“It is a tough one, even though we managed to get four points from them last season, but we cannot judge them based on that,” said the 32-year-old.

“We have not had luck on our side [in the defeats against AmaZulu and Maritzburg] but that is not an excuse because the reality of the situation is that we need to win.”

Kaizer Chiefs host Stellenbosch, Orlando Pirates take on Sekhukhune United, Royal AM are at home to SuperSport United while Swallows will be away at Lamontville Golden Arrows in their Premiership matches on Tuesday.