Big clubs` poor league start: Who is to blame?

Few could believe their eyes in looking at the results of Simba and Yanga in their first two matches of the Vodacom Premier League. Tusker Cup champions Yanga gathered nothing in the first two matches of the league while arch-rivals Simba were more impressive in their play, losing one and a draw. Is it a replay of the sort of bad start that the big clubs experience in premier league ties? Ordinarily the reason for a poor start in the league is a more relaxed atmosphere at the club after one league run is completed and another is set to start. This means there was a degree of over-confidence that was building up, on account of earlier successes, and not sufficient worry about not doing well. And when a side isn`t particularly worried as to its playing level, its sentiments shift to other concerns, for instance, who shall obtain the privileged starting line up position, who is second in the pecking order, and so on. This kind of situation is at times routine in league start ups, though it may cost the big clubs for most of the season, becoming less than automatic favourites for top honours in the season. After having had several bad games to start with the players start seeking for their feet, at times a coach is replaced if the losing streak persists, say for five or six games, but ultimately it is a matter of developing the sort of motivation that makes a team win. Depending on how they react to initial underperformance, it may last long. From the standings after two matches it was Yanga rather than Simba which faced the most teething problems, but organizationally it was Simba which seemed to a climbing to make to settle down. The new leadership has been engaged in unexpected fights all over the place, either about a suspended player who breached discipline by gesturing, or about the cash the soccer federation received in organizing the Tusker Cup tourney. Yanga proceeded to win the tournament, squaring up with Simba, and going to sleep. So at the start of the new season, Simba was likely to remain as arrogant as they were before as champions, and in the wake of some indulgent talk from their club leadership that the players can do nothing wrong, that TFF leaders are the problem. But since they chickened out of the Tusker Cup they were in the mood to start competing to prove something, while Yanga had earned their self respect by reversing the tables to win a regional tourney, and aren`t yet in the mood for league battles. They are relaxed. The wake up call is a meeting by former club chairman Ngozoma Matunda who called a meeting of branch level leaders without authorization from the sitting leadership, which means leading a revolt of sorts in the wake of poor performance at the league start. In the wake of such a challenge, one or two things come up, as to how Yanga fans - and leadership aspirants - comprehend the situation, whether it is due to lack of motivation for players owing to the usual pinching of allowances, delaying payment, lack of raising amounts or bigger contracts for some players inequitably. Leadership tussles are a temperature reading of how far the fans are satisfied with results, and that is clear. Simba SC might not face much of that as their leadership is relatively newer, and they have the prestige of having won the championship, unlike Yanga leaders still reeling from failure to retain the trophy, despite the compensatory regional achievement. Be it as it may, drawing yet another game isn`t a sparkling success for the Msimbazi Street Club leadership and may have to pull up their socks or face a situation of branches called to a meeting without the knowledge of the club executive committee. Only in this manner do members or fans express their wish that the performance remains the best. The current standings are but a reflection of how worried the teams were at the start and how this tells on the pitch, that those who need to prove their mark started doing so from the beginning, while those who believe in their abilities tend to falter at first. But the chances remain the same that over a period it is those whose teams are much stronger in all departments that can sustain the run, when they meet different sorts of opposition, have to worry about injuries, and when those who earlier basked in glory are up and running, seeking to make up. Then the league contest will earnestly be engaged. It isn`t, however, negative to put up some guesswork as to whose plan, and psychological make up is likely to hold unto the end much better, but it is almost impossible to pick up assurance from the stage so far. Amateur clubs where no professional management is in place that picks up strategies and at most might decide to replace the coach, where it is the club chairman rather than the coach who stands in line to lose his job for poor performance, are hard to predict. Yanga are partly in that situation for they lost their coach, while Simba already adapted to life without a hired foreign coach - like the rest.