Vere slow start was expected – Butler
Published:Sunday | October 20, 2024 | 12:11 AMOrane Buchanan - Staff Reporter
WITH THREE defeats in their opening five Jamaica Premier League (JPL) games, technical director of Vere Phoenix United, Craig Butler, explained that the start isn’t entirely surprising due to a myriad of behind-the-scenes challenges. However, he believes all will be settled in short order.
“It’s the start that I knew would happen. We understood that we have returning players who could have challenges getting registered and our Manning Cup players are currently unavailable. Come January we will have our full complement of players and would have gelled significantly with the players at the club,” he stated.
Vere have conceded the most goals thus far, 10, and according to Butler this is due to the unavailability of specialist players for the defensive line. He also acknowledges that life in the JPL will take getting used to.
“It’s not a concern, it’s just the fact that the players who need to be playing aren’t readily available as yet. We expect some amount of goals to be score on us but we also expect some level of adaptation in how we train and prepare from the players. This will take a lot of adjustment as we’re eyeing to win the league and not just be participants in the competition,” he added.
Up next for Vere will be bottom-of-the-table Dunbeholden, who they’ll face today. Butler explained that he has seen signs that Vere can be competitive and he is eager to extend Dunbeholden’s winless streak in the competition.
“In our last game we led Waterhouse for a good amount of time; however, they came back and won 2-1. We’ve lost games but not by wide margins. We need to ensure that we don’t give them any points and win this game.”