Manyama blames Arrows
MINDSET: PLAYED NEGATIVE FOOTBALL
Kaizer Chiefs midfielder, Lebogang Manyama has blamed the side’s poor display in the win away at Golden Arrows last weekend on extreme defending by Steve Komphela’s side. Manyama claimed that Abafana Bes’thende – who are usually known for their flash attacking style of play – used six defenders to keep Amakhosi at bay.
While Amakhosi managed to grind out a win through Manyama’s last minute strike, some supporters were unimpressed with how the team failed to string together any passes in an uninspiring display.
“First of all I want to thank the fans for coming through week in and week out, secondly, we fought you know. We played against a team who play with five defenders and one sweeper,” Manyama said after the match at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
He said the way their opponents approached the game negatively and with a defensive attitude forced them to re-adapt and change their approach to get the best out of games.
“We play like this every week but people think we don’t want to play,” he said. “We’re playing oneon-one each and every week. All these teams are coming with manto-man (marking approach).
“We’re trying to break them down but it’s not working (sometimes) but with the fighting spirit we have within ourselves, we never give up, you know. We play until the last minute,” the Amakhosi attacker who was named Man-of-the-Match elaborated.
The 29-year-old admitted they could see their displays are frustrating to their supporters who want to see some fluid performances from the side.
“Obviously we were trying to do certain stuff but sometimes it doesn’t work out, it’s frustrating for the fans, it’s frustrating for us as well you know. But, yeah, we’ll keep on trying to get better, weekin and week-out.”
Manyama may be correct in what he says, but they also failed to give a fluid performance even in games that were open like their two prior to the Arrows game. Both Cape Town City and Black Leopards didn’t sit back but took the fight to Amakhosi.
Chiefs coach, Ernst Middendorp, meanwhile called for patience and said his team had to be exactly that to get the result at Arrows.