Chippa hunt for early goals
Malesela plans to bolster midfield against Stars
CHIPPA United will be out to get early goals tonight when they play Platinum Stars in a Premier Soccer League fixture, says coach Dan Malesela. The match will take place at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (kickoff 8pm).
The home team will be keen to get back to their winning ways.
Chippa have not won a match in two league games.
The team last tasted victory a month ago when they beat league rookies Baroka FC 4-1 at home.
A win tonight will take some pressure off the players and also be a major confidence boost.
Malesela, who recently lashed out about time-wasting tricks in two of his previous post-match press conferences, said clubs refrained from doing this when they were behind.
Scoring first will silence the team’s critics. “In every game we are looking for early goals,” he said.
“We want to start scoring goals early, so that we break this thing of people sitting back and goalkeepers sitting down and faking injuries.
“Because when we lead they will not sit down, but also that we are criticised of just keeping ball possession.
“This team has never gone so long without scoring goals and, for sure, players are aware of that.
“It’s just a question of us working on how we can find plans to score goals.”
Going into tonight’s match, Malesela said there would be some changes to his team.
The coach said there were players that needed to be placed on the bench for some soul searching.
One of the positions he highlighted that needed a special look at was the midfield.
Looking at their previous goalless result against Bloemfontein Celtic, Malesela said his troops started to attack a lot more in the second half.
“The midfield needs to be improved in terms of making us play more forward in our offensive play,” he said.
“The changes will be positional . . . but there are people who need to relax and watch the game from the bench.”
The Chilli Boys will be without their skipper and key player James Okwuosa tonight.
The defender received his fourth yellow card on Tuesday night against Celtic.
‘ This team has never gone so long without scoring goals