Bite the bullet, big guns
New PSL season kicks off in what should be an intriguing campaign Willy has more Hart than Joe, says Pep
DOMINANCE has characterised the last four Absa Premiership champions. Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns blew the competition out of the park in seasons when the trophy went back and forth between Naturena and Chloorkop.
The challengers were there but they didn’t stick long enough with them. That’s why these two giants won their respective league titles before the last round of matches were played.
Their dominance is behind the points tally with which the champions finished, increasing each season to a point that Sundowns amassed a record 71 points during t he previous campaign.
It will take some doing to better that record when the 2016/17 season starts on Tuesday.
This campaign will begin without champions Sundowns, who are scheduled to leave for Nigeria today to play their last CAF Champions League group stage match. The South African champions have already booked a place in the semifinals.
The Brazilians will play catch-up, something they’re likely to do throughout this season should they also advance to the two-legged final.
On the domestic front, Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane will resume his rivalry with Stuart Baxter, who ditched Joburg and Amakhosi for the nation’s capital, Tshwane, to join SuperSport United.
Matsatsantsa a Pitori chairman Khulu Sibiya joked at the club’s awards on Thursday that they must silence their “noisy neighbours”, who have been celebrating their record seventh league title in the PSL era.
It’s all of six seasons ago that United were South African champions. But they won’t want to wait long to silence Sundowns.
The two meet next Sunday in the MTN8.
Baxter, who has won two of the last four league titles, believes the top teams will silence each other regularly in the race for the Premiership.
“I don’t think there will be a runaway team this year,” Baxter said. “I think there are too many teams that have something to prove.
“You have (Orlando) Pirates with a new coach and enough strength in the team (to challenge for the league). You have Sundowns, who blew everyone away last season and they have strengthened the team. You have Chiefs, who have gone and completely changed their team. They really want to get back into it. (Bidvest) Wits have done the same thing, strengthening the team.
“T he top teams will beat each other a lot.
“Whether we ( Mat s a t s a n t s a ) get into those ‘top teams’, that’s something else. The defining moments will be winning the bread-and-butter games. In matches where you look and say, ‘ we should collect three points here’, you shouldn’t slip up. When you pick up the points where you should, you will be champions because it will be a very tight season.”
That means the team that finish in May as champions need to be mentally stronger to bring their A-game in less glamorous matches.
Last season, Sundowns collected 33 out of 42 points from the seven other clubs that finished in the top eight.
The Tshwane sides will start as favourites. Sundowns are the defending champions with a strong squad, while Matsatsantsa a Pitori will be looking to build on their Nedbank Cup success which salvaged what had been a dreadful season for them.
The Joburg clubs – Chiefs, Wits and Pirates – are all driven by pressure to make up for past campaigns.
It should be the tightest league race in a while and it could go down to the wire.
LONDON: England goalkeeper Joe Hart can leave Manchester City if he wants to, but will improve if he stays, manager Pep Guardiola said yesterday.
Argentinian Willy Caballero has been chosen ahead of Hart for the opening Premier League and Champions League matches this season and is expected to stay in goal for today’s game away to Stoke City.
“I want happiness for the players,” Guardiola said.
“I don’t want players to stay if they don’t want to. They decide the future because they have a contract.
“I said to him that if he stays, he’s going to improve, to understand what we want from our goalkeeper.”
He said Caballero had been picked because he had more time in pre-season than Hart, who was involved in the European Championship.
“Willy played these two games and right now is better. But that doesn’t mean Joe isn’t going to play.
“I have a lot of respect for him. I know his value. I was clear what I was looking for.”
Asked what he wanted from a goalkeeper, Guardiola replied: “First thing I look for is saves. But after, he has to play with the ball, help us create a good build-up.”
Guardiola, who joined the club from Bayern Munich in June, said he had in the past had many players who “had problems” but stayed and improved.
He cited former Barcelona defender Eric Abidal, “who in the end became the best leftsided central defender in Europe”, with the Catalan club.
“If Joe stays here he will fight with the other keepers and will convince me to play. That is the way it is, nothing has changed.”
Midfielder Yaya Toure has also been left out of the opening games and Guardiola said he needed to work harder off the ball.
“Yaya is trying very well, he loves football. I spoke with him about his situation, he’s a player with huge quality.
“I have adulation and respect for Yaya’s quality. When he increases his intensity without the ball, he will be involved.” – Reuters