Komphela happy with ‘so far, so good’ project as Swallows meet Pirates

Steve Komphela knows there will be hiccups in his process of building a competitive Moroka Swallows, but with early results positive he has the confidence to say “so far, so good” for his project.

Swallows’ 1-0 defeat against Kaizer Chiefs at Dobsonville Stadium just over a week ago left the Birds in sixth place in the DStv Premiership with five wins, three draws and three defeats.

As the Christmas and Africa Cup of Nations break approaches, Komphela can be satisfied at his solid return to head coaching with Swallows from the start of this season after his technical role in a co-coaching structure at trophy machines Mamelodi Sundowns. 

Komphela will look for his team to notch a win in Tuesday's tough encounter at Orlando Stadium against Orlando Pirates (7.30pm) — the Birds' second successive Soweto derby — to improve on a recent run of just one victory from their last five league and cup matches.

The coach felt his team did everything but get a goal or two in their loss against Chiefs. He was asked afterwards how he feels his transition back to head coaching has gone so far at Swallows.

“The data has just given us a confirmation of the work and the investment we've had with the team, which then becomes our point of reference,” he said.

“What I mean about that is that out of [Swallows' first] 10 matches [before meeting Chiefs] we were on 18 points. In our preseason strategic planning we said we needed to get two points per match. So for 10 matches we needed to be at 20 points — we had 18, two short.

“So when you look at the amount of work that has been done in terms of performance, you can tick the box.

“The team comfort in playing attractive attacking football, you can also tick that box.

“Can you play a game that people want to buy a ticket and watch Moroka Swallows? With the utmost humility I think you can tick that box.

“There had also been results [in the planning]. I don't think we have lost away, it's only that back home we need to be more ruthless.

“And when you look at all those, I think from the amount of work we were doing in Potchefstroom in [the preseason] camp and all that, until now we can look back and be proud of it.

“But then that says to you, throwing it forward, what can you change? I think there are lots of improvements we need to work on. But so far, so good.

“Even given by match 11 we needed to have 22 points [to reach Swallows' target], making the difference four, which means we still need to get four points, so we are in touch. One [win] takes us to 21, and we are still in line.

“And we don't panic. The one thing about us, which we said years back, is process, process, process. If you want to be part of the positive outcome, you must be prepared to be part of the process.

“And the process does not always yield positive milestones. There are times you get negatives in the process. But you find that because people are obsessed with positive outcomes, they abandon the process.

“We want to be part of the process, with all the negative outcomes, because we are building a brand of that nature and the direction looks good.”

Pirates are wallowing in ninth place with four wins, four draws and three defeats from 11 matches.