Bartlett urges Chiefs fans to remain grounded
Kaizer Chiefs assistant coach Shaun Bartlett believes it is still early days to brand his team league title favourites.
Shaun Bartlett, new assistant coach of TS Galaxy (Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix)
Amakhosi find themselves at the top of the Absa Premiership standings, 10-points clear of second-placed Mamelodi Sundowns, who have one game in hand.
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Bartlett has urged the Chiefs supporters to refrain from celebrating for now, saying there was still seven months before the end of the season.
“Anything is possible but like I said, it’s still early days (for championship talk), we’ve only played 11 games so far,” Bartlett told IOL.
“Nobody is given a league title in November or December. We’ve got to be consistent and continue doing what we’ve been doing for the last four months.
“I think that is key. There’s six, seven months to go this season and we’ve got to make sure that we stay consistent.”
Chiefs’ next game is against Maritzburg United in the Telkom Knockout semi-finals at Mbombela Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Amakhosi go into this encounter without goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi, defender Eric Mathoho, and midfielder Willard Katsande, who are suspended.
Bartlett, however, believes Chiefs have capable replacements to fill the gaps left by the suspended trio.
“It will be a big test but in the game against Chippa United we made eight changes and we won 2-0. We brought in goalkeeper Bruce Bvuma for that game. We’ve got players that are capable of doing the same job, if not better,” commented the former Bafana Bafana striker.
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