We’ll solve Chippa’s goal woes – Malesela

CHIPPA United coach Dan Malesela is concerned about his charges’ winless run in the Premier Soccer League, but is confident that he will be able to find a solution to their goal-scoring problem.

He said this after the Port Elizabeth side played to their ninth deadlock in the league against Polokwane City at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Tuesday night.

Chippa failed to beat 10-man Rise and Shine and settled for a goalless stalemate. The draw saw the Chilli Boys drop to 11th place on the PSL log, with 24 points from 23 matches.

Only four points separate them from relegationthreatened Highlands Park, who are at the bottom on 20 points.

Chippa have been without a win in seven games. The last time the team tasted victory was when they beat Baroka 2-1 in February.

“You cannot sit and not be worried or not be concerned, you have to be,” Malesela said. “Particularly with a team that is not a bad, but a very good team.

“You get concerned why the results are not forth coming. But they are challenges that we can overcome.

“I always pride myself on coming up with solutions, and I think I will.”

Speaking of the result against Polokwane City, Malesela said his side were not hungry enough in front of the goal box, if one looked at the many missed opportunities his players had in the later stages of the game.

“We kept on trying to push people to go forward, but we were not grouping very well.

“When you don’t attack in groups and you don’t commit to areas where the ball is, you will always have difficulties,” he said. “I think that was our downfall. “We really let go of the easiest chances to score, but these things happen in football and you can’t start pointing fingers at players and say, ‘this is what you did, it’s your fault’. No. It’s nobody’s fault.

“The sad part is we are getting injuries for some reason and players are getting sidelined. “It poses a big challenge.” The Chippa United coach said the mental strength of their opponents on the night was better than that of the Chilli Boys.

Malesela said going a man down with a red card was a plus for City and they were more motivated.

“I am not saying my players did not want to win, but the normal us would have torn the team apart, when they had a man down, but the players did not.

“We took time on the ball at times. We kept on pushing the guys to rotate the ball quicker, so that we can get them tired and eventually have them open gaps – but that did not happen.”

Chippa’s next fixture is against Kaizer Chiefs at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday from 6pm.

I always pride myself on coming up with solutions, and I think I will