Mosimane opens up about ‘difficult situation’ at Esteghlal

Esteghlal coach Pitso Mosimane has reflected on Thursday’s 2-0 loss to Tractor in the Persian Gulf Pro League.

The loss comes just five days after the 3-1 loss to Kheybar Khorramabad FC, meaning the former Bafana Bafana coach has suffered back-to-back defeats in his first two games in charge of the Iranian side.

Even though he is not happy with the back-to-back losses, Mosimane believes his side is improving and it’s a matter of time before they get positive results.

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“Another difficult situation for us. We’re struggling to come out of the hole. Very difficult for us, results-wise. I know maybe it might sound a little bit crazy, but that’s the way I see it in football,” Mosimane told the media after the Tractor game.

“I think we’re improving in terms of playing. I think we played better today than the last match, but this talk is not helping if you don’t win. Because at the end of the day, football is about the results.”

Mosimane added that his side was “suffering” because of individual mistakes.

“We played a very good team, a disciplined team, but we also played well. We did not take our chances. We had two or three chances and you need to take your chances otherwise they mean nothing.

“We suffer from individual mistakes and that is very painful. When players make mistakes like this it’s very painful, but it’s part of the game. The fact that we played well means nothing because we lost the game and that’s the way it is.”

Mosimane, who joined Esteghlal last month, came close to admitting that he wouldn’t have accepted the job if he knew the club’s situation.

“I never thought the situation would be like it is now. I knew they were struggling, but not like this. But somebody must come in and in this case, it’s me, we can’t all run away. But we know why we’re where we are.

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Mosimane said the club needs to sign more quality players to improve.

“You can see, we need more players. We need to bring in players to help us. Football is simple. You need to stop the goals from coming in and you need to score goals. It’s very simple,” concluded the former Mamelodi Sundowns and Al Ahly coach.