Bucs have Indian sign over Chiefs

ON THE BALL WITH STIGA

Orlando Pirates’ victory over Kaizer Chiefs in the TKO semifinal was expected. Normally the derby is not about form, past results go out of the window, but this time Pirates were true to their form and their resurgence under Micho Sredojevic.

Pirates’ management of the game is improving. Scoring goals and creating chances are not a problem and now they are getting better at managing a game as well. I thought Saturday’s game was a game of two halves. A reaction was needed from Chiefs in the second half, and they did come out after half-time a bit recharged. They had opportunities, but such is football, it is a game of inches.

Mario Booysen made a mistake that led to the first goal for Pirates, and he then had two opportunities at the other end to save face, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. It was a game that could have seen an equaliser by Chiefs, that could have gone to penalties and then anything could have happened in the shootout.

Now it looks like Chiefs are in a state of panic. If Chiefs win on penalties suddenly it doesn’t look so dark, but I do think that again defensive uncertainties ontributed to the loss.

The defence didn’t play as a unit. After the game we saw a very emotional Itumeleng Khune, I think if you interviewed him today you would get a totally different response. But football is a game of emotions. I think he could have handled it better, because football is a team sport, and I think the collective needs to take responsibility instead of pointing out individuals. I am sure it is something Chiefs are discussing as we speak.

We have to be fair to Giovanni Solinas. Because he doesn’t have a great command of the English language, people judge him on interviews and sometimes he finds it difficult to express himself tactically and emotionally.

Sometimes this is misconstrued that the coach is not on point, and doesn’t know what he is doing. This is unfair, and then because of the changes he makes to his squad, it just adds onto everything. We cannot avoid the fact that Solinas came into the pre-season very late. You can say he had time with the team, but you prepare your team in pre-season, the philosophy and everything. The fact that he never had a pre-season is now giving him issues … now he finds himself in a difficult situation.

History shows us Chiefs are patient with their coaches, and possibly they will give him time. I think that is the right thing to do. But results do need to be forthcoming and I think the next four games before the halfway mark in the season, they are under pressure to get results. There is a Caf game tomorrow and that is an opportunity for Solinas to start winning over his detractors.

Finally, to Baroka, who overcame Sundowns and Wits enroute to meeting Pirates in the TKO final. We know how difficult Wits can be and how Gavin Hunt is a coach who can grind out a result away from home.

Baroka did extremely well, never changing their philosophy, never deciding to defend, they always continued to attack. They did keep it tight in the later stages, as you normally would, but they caught Wits on the break and could have won by a bigger margin. All credit to them, it just shows the PSL is full of surprises and there are no easy games.