Participating in CAF competitions is often believed to negatively affect a club’s domestic performance, but Stellenbosch FC coach Steve Barker is determined to challenge that notion as he looks to turn around the team’s recent poor run of form.
The Cape Winelands team succumbed to their seventh league defeat on Wednesday against Siwelele, marking their third successive loss across all competitions.
They made it to the CAF Confederations Cup group stages after thrashing FC 15 de Agosto of Guinea 4-1 in the second leg, but have experienced struggles in the Betway Premiership, sitting 15th with nine points.
Stellies have won two games, drawn three and lost seven out of their 12 opening league games. Barker lamented the mistakes that led to conceding 15 goals in their 12 league matches.
“I am disappointed, especially in the way we’ve been conceding goals and our timing in conceding goals,” Stellenbosch FC head coach Steve Barker said during the post-match press conference as quoted by the club’s website.
The MTN8 finalists were drawn into Group C of the CAF Confederation Cup alongside CR Belouizdad, AS Otoho, and Singida Black Stars. Barker said he will use the upcoming break to find a winning formula that will get the club back to winning ways.
“There is a saying that you can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results. “Right now, we have to find ways to do things differently, whether it’s our approach off the field, coaching sessions, selection of the team, or formations, we have to freshen things up.
“That’s why I said this break will be good for us, because I think it’s really needed. We then go into our CAF games next, and sometimes, people look at CAF and say it’s a reason clubs struggle in the league, but I want to try to use it to get us going again. I want to use that as a catalyst to jumpstart our league form.
“I’ve been around long enough, and I know deep in my heart that this team does not belong where we are, but we have to accept it, first of all.
That’s our responsibility to take because we’ve got ourselves into this situation. Therefore, it’s our responsibility, starting with me, and then everyone through the Club, the team, the players, to find ways to be the Stellenbosch we are known to be.
“We are fighters and we will continue to fight, and hopefully before the turn of the year we will have had some positive results, and then we can reassess where we are and what we need to do after the long break in January,” he concluded.