Hunt avoids ‘garbage’
MINENHLE MKHIZE
AMAZULU skipper Mbongeni Gumede is eyeing nothing less than the maximum points against Lamontville Golden Arrows at King Zwelithini Stadium in uMlazi tonight.
The KwaZulu-Natal derby, which is expected to attract a huge number of spectators, will kick off at 8.15pm.
The Usuthu skipper will be playing in the township where he was born and bred, and his family will be present to watch him and his team try to inflict revenge on Abafana Bes’thende.
Arrows thumped Usuthu 4-1 at Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu during the first round of the league.
“It is an honour for me to play a game of this magnitude in uMlazi where I grew up,” said Gumede.
“I believe that we as AmaZulu are a bigger brand and we want to perform well. We want to produce a good result this time. And yes, it will be special for me to play in front of my home crowd and I want to cap it with the victory.”
Impressively, Usuthu have not conceded a single goal in their last four matches, chalking up victories over SuperSport United both home and away, and playing to goalless draws against Bloemfontein Celtic and Polokwane City.
“We are playing well and there’s no need for us to change what we’re doing,” said Gumede. “We want to keep the momentum, and keep those clean sheets going. We are working well as a team and everyone is fighting hard for one another.”
However, Usuthu are yet to win a derby this season. They drew 1-1 against Maritzburg United and were humiliated in that 4-1 loss to Arrows.
On the other hand, only two visiting teams have been able to come away with maximum points this season in uMlazi, Polokwane City the first of these.
“A derby is anyone’s game but our mission is to keep on collecting points. Every point you collect at this stage of the season is vital. We are playing at home and we don’t want to lose at home,” said Gumede ,who feels that they can still sneak into the all-important Top 8 if they can be consistent in their remaining league matches.
“Looking at the log I think it is possible. The league is so tightly contested and if we can maintain our good run, yes, I think Top 8 is possible.”
ATWO-MINUTE video of Kaizer Chiefs coach Steve Komphela explaining his 3-5-2 formation on a notebook to a handful of journalists last week has got his Bidvest Wits counterpart Gavin Hunt a little puzzled.
“I heard all about that nonsense last week. You can’t do anything about how the opposition play, you can’t talk about that – how teams park the bus and all that.
“People love that stuff, but for me it’s absolute garbage,” Hunt, a four-time Premier League winner said ahead of the Clever Boys hosting Amakhosi at Bidvest Wits Stadium tonight.
Komphela had had enough of just using words to explain his most recently adopted style of play, which many will argue has, in general, worked for Chiefs. So he wrote it down on a journalist’s notepad.
It went viral on social media, and, as Hunt said, people lapped it up.
Chiefs will in all likelihood set up the same way. Komphela has been using the same formation since his side’s 2-1 victory over Sundowns in October.
“As a football person who understands that stuff, you can’t get involved in how a team plays. All you need to do is find a way of creating opportunities and find a way of denying them opportunities. That’s football,” Hunt argued.
What Komphela was explaining last week, days before Chiefs hosted Sundowns again in what turned out to be goalless draw at FNB Stadium, was how to deal with the “half spaces” and why this style of play has been a contributing factor to Amakhosi having the best defensive record in the league.
“It doesn’t matter how teams play,” Hunt continued. “Everybody generally plays quite differently, and Chiefs do play differently to most teams in the league. That’s a fact, they do, when you look at their structure. But it doesn’t matter. You still have to break it down and obviously deny them opportunities.”
The Wits coach wants football simplified.
“Believe you me, there’s no parking the bus, five defenders and what everybody is talking about.
“When they go forward they go forward, I mean do me a favour. They go forward with numbers,” said Hunt.
“You will never hear me criticise the opposition, and every team that’s played us at home sit back, but I don’t say anything about it every week and we lose or we don’t win. You can’t criticise what the opposition do. Sort yourself out.”
And the Clever Boys, struggling reigning champions who have improved in the second half of the season to try to move away from the relegation zone, are making their best effort to sort themselves out.
“Our results will say our business in the January transfer window (Wits brought in five new players) worked, but that’s in hindsight. I think our performances have been the same, but the results say we have turned the corner. There’s been effort and desire, even when we were losing. We just haven’t had the finishing touches, but we are still a long way off where we want to be.”
Wits could move as high up as 10th place if they beat Chiefs tonight.