Soweto giants are on to something
On the opening weekend
I tell you what, the league is taking another level. Yes, we saw some early-season rustiness here and there, but that’s to be expected. An exciting and promising start to the new campaign. The competitiveness of the game has been elevated and people who don’t follow it closely might not understand where I’m coming from. With Mamelodi Sundowns having raised the bar so high, the ambition from others has grown. I can tell you now, clubs can’t stand the fact that Sundowns are running away with everything. Sundowns’ success has put immense pressure on the likes of Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs and this season will be different. Teams are awake now. Players who stood out for me include the likes of Eva Nga from Pirates. As a striker at a team like that, you need that strong start as it buys you just the right amount of time to settle in.
Very happy with Ronwen Williams’ start at Sundowns too.
On Chiefs’ loss to Royal AM
With all that has been done and said, the expectation from many was for Chiefs to get three points from their opening game, but that wasn’t the case. And it’s not because they played bad, but there’s just that beginning pressure with everything that’s been happening, all the signings and Arthur Zwane as well. All eyes are on them and there’s that added pressure now more than ever before. I believe that’s why they didn’t come out guns blazing as was expected and it will be interesting to see how they manage this pressure going forward. They’ll need to find themselves quicker if they want to ease that pressure. They are not a bad team at all and I picked up glimpses of what Zwane has been talking about all along when he says they want to play entertaining football. Their build-up play is exciting, but they’ve got to be able to get the ball to where it matters. They need someone who can finish off the job and I know Arthur has been complaining about not quite having a striker that is a good header oftheball,onethatcanalsoholdthe ball and play with his back to goal, a natural goal-scorer. That’s true, they need a striker like Samir Nurkovic when he was at his best.
On Pirates’ win over Swallows FC
I was a bit surprised by Pirates, more impressed actually. The only challenge I feel they will have is how they struggle to kill off a game. After they got that goal, they didn’t take on the game completely. They didn’t bury it, and what that did was it brought Swallows back into the game as we saw them finishing off stronger. Pirates miss too many chances and that should worry them. But the overall approach to the game, there’s something special happening at Pirates. There’s a certain level of calmness in their build-up play. I see a serene mentality their new coach (Jose Riveiro) has created. They kept the ball better, unlike those panic stations we saw from them previously where they’d rush things forward, lose possession and concede. I must also say that was very brave of their coach to play the new centre-backs, Tapelo Xoki and Nkosinathi Sibisi, together. I thought Olisa Ndah was an automatic starter given how well he did last season, therefore I was expecting one of the new boys to be paired with him. You’d expect Ndah to take one of them and show him the ropes, and just help them settle in, but the coach obviously saw something, took his chances and it worked. That partnership will be tested once exposed. And now that Xoki and Sibisi did well and didn’t concede, they are more likely to continue, and where does that put Olisa? That might keep him sidelined for some time and when he’s brought in eventually, he might not be able to cope. I feel there’s a slight improvement now and if anything is to go by what we saw, the two Soweto giants are on to something.
On what to expect from Swallows
Unfortunately, their boardroom news aren’t encouraging and we saw this influencing their previous campaign terribly. When you get bosses that aren’t clued up with what’s happening at this level, then it’s a recipe for disaster. I feel they made too many boardroom mistakes from the start. They offered contracts left and right and that took their budget way above what they could manage, subsequently creating all these issues of struggling to pay their players. They are certainly a work in progress and will need to get their house in order
if they are to avoid a repeat of last season’s woes. The only thing I think they did better was retaining Dylan Kerr because with all the amazing work he’s done at different clubs before, he hardly kept a job going into the following season. He found players with other problems besides football and he’s still complaining about a number of things, but I want to believe he will steer Swallows’ ship in the right direction. His players looked a little bit intimidated against Pirates but settled in better in the second half and that fighting spirit should give them some bit of
hope going ahead.
On Master v Student fixture
You know what, Daine Klate has this incredible winning mentality. He might not have the experience yet, but he’s certainly a winner and brings out his A-game to everything he does. That mentality will work
in his favour. He doesn’t accept anything less than the best and you could see how he was jumping up and down. More often, players who go through a lot of coaches tend to bring all those coaches into one when
they start coaching, and Daine is no different. He’s worked extremely hard in the lower division of his club these past three years and our football deserves to see someone like him taking on the big men of the sidelines without any fear. I hope Chippa (Mpengesi) will be calm enough to give him a chance to settle in. Gavin Hunt works with plans and I’m not too sure if he has them now. One thing he was good at was knowing which players from other teams were coming to the end of their contracts and he’d pluck them out quickly. He obviously hasn’t had the time to do that this time around. He’s got a whole lot of young players at his disposal now and it will be a challenge for him to choose who will work for him. He needs a goalscorer and the big Cameroonian at Pirates, Nga, would have been a perfect signing for him. Those are his kind of strikers. Thamsanqa Gabuza can still do the job, but I don’t think he is Gavin’s type. Gavin wants one that sits in the box and Gabuza runs, he’s all over the place. Gavin’s also a huge fan of out-and-out destroyers in the middle of the park and he used to choose them carefully… your Thabo September, Shane Poggenpoel, your Mogogi Gabonamong and I don’t think he’s got that distinctive ball-winning midfielder right now. He has ball players, not ball winners, and I foresee a turbulent start for him, say, up until December perhaps. But once he gets the side together, we will speak a different language.
William Shongwe, Football analyst
“You are now starting the course on the wrong foot.” The same applies to my beloved Kaizer Chiefs and Man United as they both lost their opening games. I did not watch both games, but I strongly believe they will perform far better this season. With changes in the coaching department, it will require a bit of patience.
Amos “Tiger” Tshukudu, Ga-Maria
How on earth does a highly experienced coach, who is respected locally, in Africa and abroad, find himself unemployed? I am referring to Pitso. I wonder why one of my favourite biggest teams on the African continent, Amakhosi, are not keen on bringing him on board. Chiefs is too big for Zwane. I don’t believe that our team is going to bring any trophy this season because, when we talk about small teams, that is the history of the past. I am not underestimating the calibre of our coach, but nowadays, the process of getting a winning combination is not easy and Zwane throwing away points against Royal AM is a wake-up call. Sipho Robert Mpungose, Eshowe
LIGHT AHEAD FOR BUCS?
Watching Pirates play Swallows FC over the weekend was a spectacle to behold. Indeed, the short passing, confidence on the ball and effective ball possession make it easy to reach the opposition half quickly. However, one must note that summer is not made by one swallow. The performance on the day was reminiscent of the Papic era. The club played scintillating football under his tutelage but had nothing to show for it for two seasons, and therein lies the rub. Although the club won 1-0, more goals could have been scored. I got the impression that in the second half the team put the foot off the pedal somewhat and this resulted in Swallows almost getting an equaliser. It is early days, but a repetition of last season should be avoided at all costs. If I may digress a bit, why doesn’t Pirates, being among the oldest clubs in the PSL, have a women’s team? Ephraim Sinxezi, Vanderbijlpark If Pirates’ performance over the weekend is anything to go by, we are hoping to have a better season. Another thing that needs attention is that the coach must try to sharpen his strikers to score as many goals as they can. Up the Bucs.
Mbongeni Dladla, via email
The DStv Premiership started with a bang, and I was so impressed with a lot of teams, but some are not doing great. My Buccaneers played well, and coach Riveiro introduced himself well to the Ghost family. The players applied themselves very well, but our ball rotation and build-ups were not up to scratch, and we were losing a lot of balls in the middle of the park. I was not sure what the strategy of the coaches was when they left the sheriff, Ndah, out of the starting line-up. Even though Xoki and Sibisi played well, they need Ndah, who’s always cool, calm and plays with a lot of confidence. Our captain, Maela, was shaky at times and maybe the pressure of leading a big team is piling up on him. Lorch was our outstanding player and Eva Nga
played very well and is going to be a thorn in the flesh for many teams. However, our supporters sometimes confuse players by
booing them unnecessarily instead of encouraging them and this barbaric act is always done by a few Pirates supporters who like attention. Mabhakaniya, let’s rally behind the team and give them our full support. Once and Always, Mabhakaniya!
Sibusiso Khumalo, Melmoth, KZN
Congratulations to coach Riveiro and the team for the beautiful, direct and entertaining football. He made his loudmouth critics, SA media and former footballers, eat humble pie. Just like he said
in his first interview with Thomas Mlambo, he’ll let his work do the talking for him, and boy did he, on Saturday afternoon. Looks like the favourite, Zwane from neighbours Chiefs, is the real ‘plumber’ after all. To y’all Riveiro critics, Saturday was just the beginning, more pain is still yet to come. Fasten your seatbelt, it’s going to be a bumpy season ahead. Up the Bucs! Sporo Lukhele, eLukwatini
OFF TO A GOOD START, FOR SOME!
“Babize Bonke! Si gcwale nge Diski.” Local football is back. Sundowns finished last season as number one and started the season where they’d left off. Pirates have a new look about
them, with the coach implementing his philosophy. Chiefs finished last season in an unimpressive fashion, and this time around they started better, but it was still a poor performance. These are three teams that must give us a clear indication of what they want to do this season. From what I’ve noticed, the other two big teams in the PSL are giving the Brazilians a lot of confidence with their unconvincing performances. Ka Bo Yellow, Masandawana.
Terah Maqepula, Mount Fletcher
What a start to the 2022/23 season! The weekend action was not short of excitement, surprises, goals and points to prove. It was obviously a surprise to see Williams make his debut and start ahead of Africa’s number one, Onyango. Ditto Bvuma, being given the nod ahead of the experienced Khune. There was also no shortage of goals as we saw only two goalless draws. Let’s hope the strikers will put their scoring boots on and challenge Mbesuma’s long-standing record. There were guys, on the field and even on the bench, who had points to prove. With Klate sitting on the opposite bench against his master in Hunt, he had to prove he has whatittakestobeatopcoach.The 18-year-old youngster that Tinkler threw in the deep end had a point to prove against the champions and against top-class defenders like Lebusa and Onyango. Let’s fasten our seatbelts, sit up and be ready for a tough and interesting season ahead. “Babize Bonke.” Gavin Ryan, Emalahleni
I watched the Big Three over the weekend. Sundowns and Pirates won their games, while Chiefs lost. Now l agree with coach Manqoba that our Soweto giants have fallen. l don’t see any team competing with Sundowns. The Tshwane
giants will dominate the PSL until our doctors (Dr Khoza and Dr Motaung) understand that the game has changed, so they must approach it differently. Once a Pirate, always a Pirate! Zanele Songo, via email
The way Sundowns started the season, I’m afraid that if Cape Town City cannot stop them, maybe reality must sink in that our league is slowly but surely turning into a one-man show. The reality is last season the Citizens were the team that gave the Brazilians some tough times and, if my memory serves me right, they drew all their games. Let’s hope the sleeping giants of Soweto, in particular my team Pirates, will be competitive this season and show some class. We cannot allow Sundowns to be in complete command as if it is a relationship between primary kids
and their teachers, where the latter is responsible and commands the flow of everything. Thapelo Masiapata, Ramaroka Village (Bolobedu)
As a Sundowns supporter, I witnessed a lot in the opening games of leagues around the world. At home, Ka Bo Yellow became the first team to win a match in the DStv Premiership and Modiba the first goalscorer. Seeing Richards Bay come from the second tier and beat Arrows, Man United lose against Brighton and Haaland score twice to guide Man City to a win, Messi scoring twice and Goss get the first red card of the season… It was a fun weekend of 5-7 August 2022. Kenneth Chukwu Langa, Soshanguve Block XX East