SuperSport United interim coach Andre Arendse is cautious about the next five DStv Premiership matches he will be in charge of till end of the current season.

The Matsatsantsa legend emphasized the importance of all the matches to Mpho Letsholonyane on SuperSport’s PSL now show this week after his first game at the helm against Kaizer Chiefs.

Arendse, who was appointed by the club to replace Kaitano Tembo who parted ways with Matsatsantsa recently, beat Chiefs in his maiden game over the Easter long weekend.

“The way the guys showed up, I think the week that was in terms of leading up to the Chiefs game, there was a lot of emotions, and rightfully so, just in terms of taking over for this particular period it was never going to be about the coaching I could give them, how I could make them better players, the structures we would adopt, the game plans or the style of play.

Those structures were put in place years ago and Kaitano Tembo played a massive role in putting those structures together. So that certainly makes my job easier. The biggest test for me was pretty much creating a vibe if you like, creating an all-inclusive kind of approach where we literally brought every single player into the equation and make them feel part of the group and the team. The win was absolutely massive, it set the tone but it was not really all about me. I said to the players you set the standards now, you coming up against a team like Chiefs, you are more than match them, you went on to beat them,” said the United interim coach.

The Bafana Bafana legend was enthusiastic about the attitude of his young players that did not disappoint besides the unpleasant weather conditions in Johannesburg.

“That’s the kind of attitude we are going to need as a group in terms of seeing out the next five games and I think players have bought into that philosophy just in terms of never giving up. But most importantly playing for each other because they are the closest they are to each other and that’s certainly going to be important,” said the United interim coach.

Arendse felt very honoured about the victory with his team looking at how far back he started the journey with United.

“This is a massive honour for me because I’ve got a rich history with the club, I’ve won league titles with the club and I know what it takes as a player what one has to put in in order to get success.

But the players are on the right track mind in terms of what we need to put into every single game going into the rest of their season out, and that for me is going to be critical,” said the Matsatsantsa coach.

The former Fulham FC keeper continues with his great task in charge as he takes on Marumo Gallants in Polokwane this coming Saturday (kickoff at 7:30pm).  

“The remaining matches are certainly not the easiest and that is with all due respect to those teams because every single team will pose a different challenge to us.  There is also added challenge of playing away in some of these games and the travel that we need to undertake to get to these venues but it is the same for every team.

The only thing I did say to the players is that the pressure is on for a top eight finish, the club speaks about this pride history that we have with consecutive top eight finishes over the years but our ambition has to be more than that, we have the capabilities, we certainly have the ability to finish as high as we possibly can up the big table this season. We mustn’t get carried away with the result we picked up against Chiefs because the next game is just that, we’ve got to tackle that as they come,” the Bafana legend emphasized.

Arendse further stressed that for them to reach their goal, the team must be together and work as a compact unit.

“I’m trying to keep the team together, I’m trying to keep everybody hungry for places in the team, create competition at training sessions because that’s important and the players have responded tremendously well.

There’s such a good vibe and everybody is holding their hands up. We saw the celebrations after the Chiefs game where even the bench players were up and celebrating, that’s important for me to see.  I want to see that camaraderie in the team because that will go a long way,” the coach concluded.