Katsande confident that Chiefs will bounce back
WILLARD KATSANDE believes that Kaizer Chiefs will soon hit the high notes – once they start banging in goals.
Amakhosi are still searching for that elusive first victory after four Absa Premiership matches. On Friday, Chiefs again failed to register a victory and had to share the points with Maritzburg United at Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg.
Amakhosi have scored only three goals in four league matches. But Katsande is confident that once they start scoring, they will be difficult to stop.
“I believe in the process. We’ve been playing some of the best football. In a couple of games we conceded soft goals. We wanted a clean sheet and we got it on Friday. Going forward we need to work on our execution. Like the coach said, we need to be more clinical in front of goal,” he said.
Chiefs beefed up their attack with the signing of Khama Billiat but he has struggled to get firing for them. He is yet to find the back of the net in four league outings. His lone strike came in the MTN8 against Free State Stars.
“All is not lost. We know that there’s pressure out there. We just have to do well. The past will not affect ourfuture. We don’t have control of what happened yesterday. The only thing we can affect is the future which is the next game,” said Katsande.
Amakhosi will have to be sharp against SuperSport United in the semi-finals of the MTN8. The first leg is at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Sunday at 3pm and the return leg is at FNB Stadium on September 2. Matsatsantsa A Pitori have kept two clean sheets in their two league matches.
“We need to go back to the drawing board and rectify one or two things. We managed to create some chances. That is a positive for us. If we were not getting into that final third then it was going to be a mountain to climb for us. We just need to work on our finishing touches. With time and process it will come right.”
Chiefs are going through a barren run. They haven’t won a trophy in three seasons. Their last piece of silverware came back in 2014/15 season.
But Katsande is not down in the dumps. “In a long journey there is no straight road. There will be potholes, curves and humps. It is more about how you overcome them. We are in a good process. The young ones are enjoying their football.
“To win matches you need to score goals. We have to lift our heads and keep going. Things will come. Once we start scoring more goals, we will be talking a different story,” he said. WHILE Wedson Nyirenda was left wishing football allowed for a change of the entire team during a match, Jozef Vukusic was looking ahead to the season with glee.
As the Polokwane derby produced a winner for the first time ever, Polokwane City beat Baroka FC 2-0 at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday, the two coaches’ contrasting reactions to the result was expected.
Having enjoyed a win over
Cape Town City and a credible draw against Kaizer Chiefs prior to the weekend’s clash, Nyirenda’s Baroka were slight favourites going into the match. And when they dominated the initial quarter-hour, hope sprang eternal that Bakgaga would reign supreme.
It was not to be though as the men in green incredibly went flat, allowing Polokwane to not only get a grip on a match they’d hitherto looked to be set to chase in vain but also gifting them a first-half goal that set them up for victory.
To say Nyirenda was livid would beputting it mildly.
“I cannot pretend it was good,” he said afterwards. “I’m very disappointed because of the poor attitude from my team today. The attitude was too negative. If I was allowed to have 10 substitutions I could have substituted everyone.”
He made three changes, one of those coming very early in the first half, but it was all in vain – Baroka’s cause not being helped by some horrendous defending that saw goalkeeper Ayanda Dlamini gift Polokwane the opener.
“Nobody came to the party today. That first goal was way too casual. But that is our problem. In all our matches, we’ve never really been beaten. We’ve given the opponents all the goals we’ve conceded. Back passes should come to an end. We give away goals and we missed too many chances. We need to change all that.”
With two weeks before their next matches, the Zambian legend has time to work not only on his team’s attitude but on their finishing and defending as well. It is going to be a long fortnight.
Not so for his Polokwane counterpart Vukusic for whom the next two weeks should be bliss after the club registered their first win of the season thanks to goals from Walter Musona and captain Jabu Maluleke.
“It was a very important win for us because we have to start somewhere, we needed to get a good result in the derby. I am happy that the defence kept a clean sheet. Now we have the first three points we can move from here. This will build confidence for our next games.”