Tshakhuma Tsha Madhivhandila head coach Joel Masutha believes past achievements will not count when his charges come up against SuperSport United in the MTN8 quarter-finals today.
Masutha's side host the 2019 MTN8 winners at Thohoyandou Stadium at 15h00 in the first match of the 2020/21 season.
Matsatsantsa are not only coming to the match as defending champions but also carrying the 'cup specialists' tag.
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"We are looking forward to our first match against SuperSport United, it will set the tone for what we need to work on and what we are looking good at," Masutha tells snl24.com/kickoff.
"What we've been telling our players is that cup specialists or not, it's 11 against 11 on the day. So on any given day, anything can happen. We just have to go out there, play with confidence, and try to win the match.
"You know our home ground is always packed. But due to the circumstances and the situation that we all know, we can't complain. People's lives, people's health is very important."
'Moporofita' as Masutha is known in football says he is very happy with the team that has been assembled by the TTM management.
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"Ja everything's new but I'm confident in our players. We will give a good account of ourselves. The team must just do well, we have to do well," he says.
"We don't even want to burden ourselves about winning the league, top eight. We also respect the teams that have been there because they've done it all, they've seen it all. You know we just want to have a competitive team that will be able to compete.
"Mandate must come from within you know. We just want to do well ourselves, the management has never said 'go and win this, go and win so many games'. They just want us to go there and compete and fight in every match."
The PSL fraternity appears to already be turning against TTM for the manner in which the club has conducted itself since buying Bidvest Wits, coupled with apparent continued unprofessionalism off the pitch.
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"Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and we don't have to entertain what other people are thinking because there are more negatives than positives," Masutha responds.
"I think more successful people have been criticised more than the people who are doing nothing. Yes, also the negativity will serve as a motivation to our side.
"I must give credit to the management, they've assembled the players. They got the players whose profiles suit the way the team wants to play and I can't complain. I'm very happy to be working with the calibre of players that we have."
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