City are ready to turn up the heat on Komphela
AS head coach of Kaizer Chiefs, Steve Komphela occupies the hottest seat in the PSL. But when the popular Soweto club hosts Cape Town City at the FNB Stadium tonight the seat will get much, much hotter.
In short, with Komphela is under severe pressure from the team’s demanding supporters, anything less than victory today may just spark management into action with regard to the coach’s position. As it stands, Chiefs haven’t won a game in their last five outings – three draws and two defeats.
For an Amakhosi coach, a job where victory and success are expected, it hasn’t been enough. And, after last week’s 1-1 draw with SuperSport United, the Chiefs faithful on the terraces were already on the “Steve-must-go” bandwagon. If Komphela wants to hang onto his job, and placate the club’s followers, then he’ll have to inspire his team to see off City tonight (7.30pm kickoff).
In contrast to Chiefs’ woes, the Capetonians are in rampant form. On a seven-game winning streak, they’ve stormed into second place on the PSL standings and, at the weekend, won through to the final of the Telkom Knockout. City are playing some fantastic football, be that at home or away, and they should be a real handful for the Soweto side tonight.
The good news for City, and which spells bad news for Chiefs, is that Lebogang Manyama has shaken off an injury and will be ready to play tonight. The City captain and star man was stretchered off in the 66th minute during the weekend’s 4-1 Cup semifinal success over Free State Stars. There had been concerns that Manyama would miss the Chiefs game, but the official word from City is that their inspirational captain has recovered. He’s fit and well, and ready to terrorise Chiefs.
The other positive for City is the return from suspension Today: Kaizer Chiefs v Cape Town City (FNB Stadium, 7.30pm); SuperSport United v Wits; Maritzburg Utd v Chippa United Tomorrow: Ajax Cape Town v Mamelodi Sundowns (Cape Town Stadium, 7.30pm); Golden Arrows v Polokwane City; Free State Stars v Platinum Stars; Baroka FC v Orlando Pirates; Highlands Park v Bloemfontein Celtic
of central defender Tshepo Gumede. The reliable centre-back sat out the semifinal against Stars, with City coach Eric Tinkler handing Ghanaian Joseph Adjei a debut in the middle of the defence, alongside the solid Thamsanqa Mkhize.
Gumede, the former Platinum Stars and Orlando Pirates player, has been in top form for City all season, and he will definitely be back to anchor the Cape club’s rearguard against Amakhosi tonight.
“The game against Chiefs is an important one for us,” said Tinkler. “We have to put the result of the weekend out of our minds. Yes, we are in the Cup final, but we have two important away league games coming up (City also play Wits in Joburg on Friday).
“Chiefs are always a tough ask, a tough challenge… But we are getting them at a stage when they are not performing, when they are struggling to get results. I’m sure that my players will be motivated and we just have to be sure that we apply ourselves. The key is to go there and put up a good performance, like we did against Free State Stars at the weekend.”
In the camp of the other Mother City club, new Ajax Cape Town coach Stanley Menzo is about a month into his task. He’s had three games in charge – a draw, a defeat and a win – and he’s gradually ushering in his way of doing things at the struggling Cape club.
Tomorrow, though, the former Ajax Amsterdam and Netherlands goalkeeper is in for his toughest assignment as a coach in the PSL. Ajax host Mamelodi Sundowns at the Cape Town Stadium (7.30pm kickoff) – and, by Menzo’s own admission, he knows his team is in for a big, big challenge.
Sundowns are the team of the moment. Defending PSL champions, they also went on to be crowned African champions by beating Egypt’s Zamalek last month. At the weekend, the Pretoria club demonstrated, in no uncertain fashion, that they are intent on retaining the PSL title when they thrashed Highlands Park 5-0 in a one-sided encounter. Right now, the Brazilians are playing some smart, entertaining football – Ajax are going to have to be at their very best if they are to get something from a difficult fixture against the continent’s best football side.
“From what I’ve seen of Sundowns, they are (a) very good, a top team,” said Menzo. “It won’t be easy for us to get a result… But they are human and they have moments of weakness. It’s up to us to bring our best. We have to stay in the game long and try to hurt them. We have to make sure that we don’t concede and that we play with confidence.”
For Menzo, as he attempts to turn things around at Ajax, the biggest concern is the manner in which the team is conceding goals. Last week, the Cape side, after 10 games, registered their first win of the season – 3-2 over Platinum Stars in Rustenburg. But the problem again was their fragility in defence. Leading 3-0 at halftime, Ajax couldn’t kill the game off, Dikwena rattled back to 3-2 and the Urban Warriors had to hang on to get the win.
“It is a problem,” admitted Menzo. “After the game against Platinum, we spoke at length to the players. We analysed things through intense video sessions, we’ve worked on a few things at training … and, at the moment, it’s something we are really focusing on.”
For Menzo, the philosophy is always that, when his team takes the field, they already have a point in the bag. The idea is not to concede to maintain that point – and then to go and win it by making use of the scoring opportunities that present itself. Going into tomorrow’s Sundowns match, the approach won’t change – and the Ajax coach also has no intention of changing the game plan or the system either.
“At training, we try to improve the way we play,” said Menzo.
“We want to get better, but we also want to play the way we want to play … we won’t change anything because we are playing Sundowns. We want to control the game, we know we will get chances to score, we just have to be efficient in finishing it off.”