FUEL IN CHIEFS’ TANK
DERBY TRUMP CARD: MANYAMA IS ALWAYS A POTENTIAL MATCH-WINNER
He has blossomed since the coach gave him more freedom to play a free-ranging role on the field.
Lebogang Manyama probably uses his unassuming persona to deceive opponents into not paying much attention to him but if Kaizer Chiefs were a fighter jet, the 29-year-old would be the fuel that keeps it flying.
Manyama has been given a new role as he plays a little deeper than he is used to and said as much as he is enjoying the role, it is not as easy as he makes it look. His new role allows him to join the attack a little later and enables him to pick up the spaces and make the right passes.
“Everybody is responsible for how the team defends,” said Manyama yesterday. “We come to every game with a zero and everybody must try and make sure that we keep it that way,” he added. He has taken to playing a more rounded role like a duck to water and his contributions are critical to Amakhosi’s cause.
“It’s not really a big thing to move a bit lower on the field because the coach instructs us on how we must play. The way he has told me to play has helped me a lot. It’s not easy but it looks like I am a natural at it. Everyone can go forward, even Willard can like he did in Wednesday’s game where he went forward a lot. It’s about working together and knowing that there are no limitations. Just because Willard is more defensive than George (Maluleka) and he is the one that has to stay. If he gets a chance to go forward we cover him. But that comes with experience between the three of us,” explained Manyama.
He said tomorrow’s much anticipated and sold out Absa Premiership game against their biggest rivals Orlando Pirates is another game where they need three points more than anything else.
“It’s another three pointer… we will try to get maximum points and break away from whoever is behind us going into the international break. It is obviously a tough one – a big one against a very arrogant team – I don’t mean arrogant in a bad way – but they want to control things in every game they play. They play really good football,” he added.
He also cautioned about Amakhosi counting their chickens before they hatch, saying the league can only be won in May.
“You can’t win a league that starts in August and ends in May before May. You have to play each game as it comes, one day at a time, one training session at a time. We are trying to improve from the last performance and always trying to head in the right direction as a team and not individuals. It has helped us a lot that everybody has chipped in with a contribution. I believe to win things takes a squad and not just the 11 that play. The results are starting to come but there is still a long way to go. We have to take it one game at a time with the most important one being the next one,” he said.