Too soon for praise, says Baxter
STUART BAXTER might have unwittingly stirred up a hornet’s nest when he assessed Chippa United’s start to the season before SuperSport United’s encounter with them tonight at Lucas Moripe Stadium.
Dan Malesela has assembled a fiery Chilli Boys side full of busy bees who run up and down the pitch for 90 minutes. But they come to the capital without the sting of the injured Rhulani Manzini upfront.
“Chippa have had an undoubtedly good start,” Baxter said. “But you can’t have a good start when you have only played two games (Chippa have played three).
“Compared with the Chippa of last year, that I thought were overly reliant on possession and not having a real direction, I think they have become a little more functional in their possession.
“They play combinations around your box with their possession. They aren’t risking the ball like they did last season.”
Matsatsantsa a Pitori haven’t been efficient so far this season, losing to Platinum Stars after dominating the match, while they played for only 70 minutes against Mamelodi Sundowns. And the Brazilians punished them for that.
The Chilli Boys are unbeaten in three games, beating Free State Stars and Dikwena before their goalless draw with Sundowns, when they dominated the Brazilians for 90 minutes and earned nationwide praise.
“Anybody lavishing praise after two (three) games smacks of overreaction,” Baxter said.
“It’s the same as the overreaction now that if people think we’ve lost our first (league) game of the season, it’s all doom and gloom.”
Baxter’s defence resembles a hospital ward. Clayton Daniels has a broken arm and a concussion, while Tefu Mashamaite and Keagan Ritchie are nursing knee injuries.
Mario Booysen should partner Morgan Gould at centre-back. The injuries, as well as the stop-start season, have delayed Baxter’s efforts to integrate the new players into the team. Malesela hasn’t had such issues.
Despite losing the backbone of the team that did duty in the last campaign, the Chilli Boys are continuing where they left off last season, when they made the top eight for the first time in the club’s history – finishing above Matsatsantsa.
“If you look at the three years that I was at Chiefs, when everyone was craving marquee signings left, right and centre, the team didn’t change much,” said Baxter.
“I like to build. I like a bit of consistency and security for the players, not thinking that just because I miss one chance that means I am out.”
“I like to let the players progress and grow. The difficulty is if you bring in players, you have to balance the quality of the players you bring in.
“What becomes an issue is how quickly you can get them to gel with what you built the previous season,” he added.
“That’s where we are now. We’ve got so much work to do. We have to change the way we play slightly to accommodate everybody and make sure we get the best out of them.”