WATCH: Arendse feels honoured to coach SuperSport United
"I have a proud history with this team as a player," says Arendse.
SuperSport United interim coach Andre Arendse (Shaun Roy/BackpagePix)
Andre Arendse passed his first test in his dress rehearsal for the SuperSport United head coach gig after chiseling out a 1-0 win over Kaizer Chiefs in the DStv Premiership over the weekend.
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Arendse, who is the interim coach after the Matsatsantsa dismissed club legend Kaitano Tembo, pulled one of the biggest upsets this season, given that SuperSport have a number of rookies in their squad this season.
However, Arendse has been given until the end of the season to stop SuperSport from looking elsewhere for a coach, and with one big victory already in the bag, the former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper wants to approach the next five games with a lot of caution and diplomatically claims he has not set sights on SuperSport’s top job.
“It is not something that I have to put forward first and foremost in my mind. My number one priority is to see out the remaining games the best way I can and get the players in a good frame of mind in a game out like we did against Chiefs and the rest will take care of itself ,” said Arendse.
“It’s a massive honour to be the interim head coach with a club like this and I have a proud history with this team as a player. To be given the opportunity to take care of the team for these closing games, is my main focus,” he added, before he went on to laud his predecessor for laying a solid foundation at the club.
“We come from the same cloth in terms of the structure, the kind of playing style and the kind of players we prefer. With that in mind, there was not a hell of a lot that I needed to change going into this game against Chiefs,” said Arendse.
He added: “The way we handle our set-plays when defending or attacking and the kind of solutions we look for were mostly laid down by him. When I came through as his assistant, we worked through it together, so it is important for us to acknowledge the kind of work that he started with the club and it has made my job a lot easier because I just need to tweak a few things.”
