4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Black Aces and Orlando Pirates, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Kermit Tau and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Something was said to Nkanyiso Shinga and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Black Aces would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
A side in position 11 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Khama Lorch was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Itumeleng Khune left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Itumeleng Zungu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Black Aces has been clear about where Lebogang Zungu stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Lebogang Zungu