Stuart Baxter is in the zone

Stuart Baxter got the mother of all beatings in his first MTN8 quarterfinal match on his second-coming to South Africa.

The baptism of fire for the then Kaizer Chiefs coach came courtesy of a Johan Neeskens-coached Mamelodi Sundowns. They ran riot and romped to a 4-1 victory.

"We got stoned," recalls Baxter with a chuckle. "But I'll take that if we went on to win the league."

Chiefs were crowned champions.

Four years later, and now draped in the blue robes of Sundowns' cross-town rivals SuperSport United, Baxter finds himself facing the same foe in today's MTN8 quarterfinal clash.

This time, looming large at Loftus Versfeld, is Pitso Mosimane, the South African for whom the Briton has immense respect.

Kick-off is at 3pm.

"Sundowns were, with all due respect, Patrice's money. Lots of players bought and lots of players sold," said Baxter. "The best job that Pitso has done to Sundowns is to create continuity, calmness, stability, belief and confidence. The result is that they've set the bar for everybody, haven't they?"

With two titles apiece in the past four seasons, Baxter and Mosimane have made the league title their fiefdom.

"The obvious candidates are Chiefs and [Orlando] Pirates. Maybe [Bidvest] Wits also because Gavin [Hunt] has had a bit of continuity. They've invested, three seasons now."

No surprise package?

"In any league in the world there'll be a Leicester [City], someone that you'd go at the end of season and say, I didn't think they would do that."

It could be Platinum Stars as it was last year or Cape Town City, formerly Mpumalanga Black Aces.

"We're hoping that one of them is going to be SuperSport, obviously. If we can get ourselves in the mix, I think the further we go with the season, the stronger we're gonna get."

Tying down striker Jeremy Brockie to a new four-year deal was a piece of excellent business.

The New Zealander's stock has risen sharply. The 2015 Nedbank Cup player of the tournament swept the stakes at the SuperSport awards a week ago, getting player of the season, the chairman's award and top goalscorer gongs.

Mosimane was prepared to pay premium to take Brockie to the Brazilians.

"We know that he considered the Downs advance and he chose to stay. That means a lot. We believe in retaining our players," said Baxter.

"Jeremy signing was important for us because we know that Sundowns were really interested."

Also important for the 63-year-old is having a preseason with the club he joined in January.

"What we've said is that we have got the preseason plus last night's game [Wednesday night's defeat to Platinum Stars], plus the Sundowns game [today]. Then we have a break.

"At that point, we gotta look at it and say what needs tweaking; is there anything that we're not happy with that we've got to work on? So that's how we're going to work. The preseason gives you a chance to go into more detail."

The tweaking involves changing United's approach to pressing.

"The technique of pressing is doing it together in small groups, hunting in packs. It's not just an enthusiastic player chasing you down.

"We can work on it now. Even if our pressing was enthusiastic and quite well-organised, it was more than the quality of the pressing and winning balls in the right area and trapping people in spaces," he explains.

Will adopting that approach work wonders for a speed merchant like Thuso Phala?

"That's a perfect example. Thuso now can read what I call a trigger - knowing when to use his speed to close the ground quickly and put that guy under pressure. Sometimes he would go at the wrong time last season and he would rule himself out of the game.

"His teammates now know Thuso is there and which ball to play. That understanding of each other is what you can get in preseason. Now does that translate automatically into performance? No, because you've still gotta win the game, get the confidence and say actually this works."

Reyaad Pieterse, Morgan Gould and Reneilwe Letsholonyane were part of his glory at Chiefs who have reunited with him in Pretoria.

"'Yeye' chose to come here. He had a great career at Chiefs. He had a great affection for Chiefs. Reyaad and Morgan chose to come here. We need to build whatever strategies we can because we can't compete in terms of just going out and splashing the cash on new players. So we had to do what we did and it is pleasing."

He declares satisfaction with his squad but the door is open for another addition - Tefu Mashamaite.

"'Masha' has called me because he has been a bit unhappy there. He knows that I know his coach who used to be my assistant in Sweden when I was at Helsingborgs. I've had a lot of conversations about 'Masha' and also with 'Masha'.

"So I know exactly the situation there. It's not one where you can just pick the fruit yet. But it is maturing. We'd still be interested in Tefu. Absolutely. Because I think he is the right character. If he showed the inclination to want to come to us we'd be interested."

Owing to his time at Chiefs, Baxter has to shake off a perception that he doesn't give a flying toss about participating in Confederation of African Football (Caf) competitions.

He said: "We as a club, not Stuart Baxter, made a conscious policy decision that... we can't manage that with the squad we had and the distances we had to travel. Remember we had already lost a league, we lost a lot of points based on the fact that we were flying all over the place and we were running the squad down.

"We wanted to go for the league. That was a conscious decision made by the club rather than pull out and embarrass everybody. That wasn't my decision.

"Whenever I put a team on the field, I wanna win that game. And if you put me on a field in Congo or Burkina Faso, that doesn't change. With SuperSport we have made a conscious decision that we're gonna go for it to the best of our ability.

"I think it is difficult like Pirates experienced. I think Pitso feels it now that it is difficult to go on all fronts. Is it impossible? No it is not.

"But when you have a thin squad like we had at Chiefs, or if you've got a thin squad like we have here, maybe it is difficult.

"But at SuperSport we've made a conscious decision that because South African teams have done better and better and better, we don't wanna be the ones to say we're not going. We'll go the extra mile if we can. Could that penalise us on the home front? Maybe, but we're gonna go for it anyway."

Back to the MTN8 quarterfinal business of this afternoon, Baxter is rubbing his hands in glee.

"I love the games against Sundowns and did better when I was at Chiefs. It is the best South Africa can offer between two top teams. I hope that people look at the SuperSport-Sundowns derby and see it as a top game that can go either way.

"I think Pitso feels a little bit of a wind blowing. He doesn't think it is a hurricane yet. I hope we can increase the strength. Coaches push each other a little bit, you know. If it is [Jose] Mourinho and [Pep] Guardiola, if they're good at their jobs, they push each other. That's why I enjoy it."

bbk@sundaytimes.co.za