‘No mental strength’
SOLINAS: PLAYING FOR CHIEFS IS DIFFICULT, THE EXPECTATIONS ARE HIGH
Kaizer Chiefs coach Giovanni Solinas apologised to the fans for the defeat in the Soweto derby on Saturday afternoon, and took lessons on things to work on after the 2-1 beating at the FNB Stadium.
Solinas admitted that his team do not have the right mentality – which is why they slipped up after taking an early lead and allowed the Buccaneers to get an equaliser and winning goal.
“I apologise to our fans because when you have lost the derby it is painful,” said Solinas. The biggest lesson that Solinas picked from his first derby – although he insisted that the Free State derby he won when he was still coach of Free State Stars had the same pressure – was that his team lacked a winning mentality.
“In the derby the details make the difference. We take the lessons. We need to improve on our mentality. We need to understand that we are Kaizer Chiefs. We need to have a winning mentality. We will now try to develop this mentality. I am sure the players will have it in the future. Sometimes developing it needs a game like this.
“We must improve our character. Playing for Kaizer Chiefs is very difficult. The expectations are very high. The club is big. We need a strong mentality and charIt acter. We need to learn to manage the pressure,” said the Italian.
Captain Itumeleng Khune admitted that they need to work harder to get the club back to its glory days as having gone three seasons without a trophy remains a big embarrassment.
“It is in our hands. We get a new chance at the beginning of every season. We are a team who win trophies every season but it has not been like that in the past three seasons,” said Khune, who saved a penalty just before Pirates equalised.
“We know that and we are not proud of it and we will try our best to bring the brand back to where it belongs.”
He also credited his Bucs counterpart Siyabonga Mpontshane for breaking their rhythm and getting his team back into the match. “As soon as I had saved the penalty, Mpontshane went down – and we always talk about that when your team is under pressure you need to try and break their rhythm. Unfortunately we lost concentration and they got a set-piece and capitalised on it,” said Khune. should be more about experience gained for Regionalliga side SV Rodinghausen when they host Bayern Munich in a DFB Cup match at Bremer Brucke Stadium tonight. The fourthtier league’s second-placed team will be no match for Niko Kovac’s second-placed Bayern who are almost certain to advance to the next round.
Interestingly, Bayern have not had it all their own way in this season’s Bundesliga, though a 2-1 win at Mainz at the weekend narrowed the gap on Borussia Dortmund at the top to two points. Rodinghausen are currently fifth in the Regionalliga West section, with six wins, six draws and three defeats this season.
Kovac may be tempted to use some of the players who have not seen much game time in the nine league games played so far. The likes of goalkeeper Sven Ulreich are likely to be given a run with Manuel Neuer rested. Up front Kovac can rest Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski and give Sandro Wagner a run.
In the middle, the likes of James Rodriguez, Kingsley Coman and Sebastian Rudy may get some time in the match. Even if he makes all these changes, the Bavarians should still cruise easily past Rodinghausen. I see a big win for Munich here.