TKO – CHIEFS LIVE TO TELL THE TALE!

Giovanni Solinas must never ever take a risk like that! I know he is a big fan of rotation, but he must not gamble with a cup game where one bad day in the office is known to be punished by an embarrassing early exit. He can rotate his team for league games, but definitely not during a cup game. His biggest challenge was that he wanted to save players for the derby, but that was too risky. Virgil Vries had a very good game despite lacking match fitness. Our players should learn to take more shots around the box and not try to walk the ball into the net with unnecessary over-passing of the ball. Black Leopards had more shots during the first half because their intentions were clear, hence they were rewarded with a great goal. Anyway, thanks Makhosi for advancing to the next round. Amos Tshukudu, Ga Maria

Esteemed editor, kindly inform coach Giovanni Solinas never ever to do it again please, fielding a second-string team. Itumeleng Khune, Khama Billiat, Lebogang Manyama, Leonardo Castro, Siphelele Ntshangase, to name a few, must always be in the line-up. Saving players for certain games like the derby is not acceptable. We almost got knocked out of the Telkom Knockout. All players need to fight for their respective positions within the team irrespective of the opponent. We are not even mid-season, so there is no player that should complain about fatigue. What happened on Sunday is unacceptable and unprofessional from the technical team – no coach worth his salt will sacrifice his best players like that. Should we be worried? Players are getting paid and should perform professionally at all times. Fight to play. No favours. Leon White, Gauteng

This might prove to be longest season at Naturena and the trophy drought is here to stay, due to the constant changes on the playing personnel, which then negatively impact on consistency. Giovanni Solinas is unpredictable. Placing a correct prognosis of Kaizer Chiefs’ starting line-up prior to the match is never an easy task these days. However, it is great seeing that very few players will be perennial benchwarmers, but the propensity could prove to be the coach’s undoing and put a spanner in the works when going forward. Against Black Leopards, Chiefs took to the field with almost the same changes to the team that lost against Polokwane City in Durban a fortnight ago. It became a mammoth task for Chiefs to claim Leopards’ scalp and needed the lottery of penalties to advance. Owen Mafukele-Valoyi, Nkuri-Tomu

Let me congratulate Orlando Pirates for qualifying for the next round of the Telkom Knockout because Chippa United didn’t make it easy for them. It was a game of two halves and both teams squandered the chances created. I was so disappointed with the behaviour of captain Mark Mayambela. As the skipper, he must lead by example not act out towards the coach. His actions affected the team because he was giving his team shape in the middle of the park. Yes, Pirates won, but they struggled to contain Chippa. The replacement of Xola Mlambo nearly cost us. There are positive aspects that coach Eric Tinkler should take from this game and his team is not bad. Well done to Pirates, but they must learn to kill the game off as early as possible. Madimetja Vic Mashamaite, Renstown The Sea Robbers! To paraphrase Xola Mlambo, Orlando Pir- ates is a big team and we can’t dream small. The level of confidence I have in this team is inexplicable. The Telkom Knockout is ours and Saturday’s game was testament to the fact that we can go above and beyond the call of duty. To us, the sky is not even the limit. We are just unstoppable! Aaron Makamo, Magogeni

The Telkom Knockout has taken us by storm. The game between Maritzburg United and Highlands Park particularly caught my eye. It was box-to-box play and the two teams were showing scant respect to each other. Black Leopards almost gave Kaizer Chiefs the shock of their lives, coming at us guns blazing and baying for our blood. A job well done by the technical staff for coming with a Plan B in the second stanza. Almost all the teams that were expected to proceed to the next round have done so. At the time of putting pen to paper, the big guns were waiting for Benni McCarthy and his boys on the other side of the fence and he had better not disappoint. Siyabonga Nkalambela, Delft