Kaizer Chiefs to just forge ahead
Regroup and forge ahead. That was the message from Kaizer Chiefs coach, Ernst Middendorp after his team suffered a crippling 1-0 defeat to AmaZulu at FNB Stadium on Saturday night.
Ernst Middendorp, coach of Kaizer Chiefs (Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix)
The unexpected loss denied Amakhosi a chance to widen their lead at the top of the Absa Premiership standings to put more pressure on the chasers Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates.
READ: Chiefs coach Middendorp not fantasizing about winning league title
Coming from a big win where they beat Pirates in a derby where the odds were stacked against them, it was expected that Chiefs would cruise past the relegation- threatened Usuthu. But under rookie coach Ayanda Dlamini, AmaZulu brought a fight and stole the three points.
Answering a question on why his team had failed to get a winning run going since the beginning of the year, Middendorp gave a lengthy lecture on how he never said his team were gunning for the Absa Premiership title.
“I don’t know why you are putting it like that. It is normal all over the world that you go a number of games and you produce good results and get to a good position. And then there are games where opponents come with a different approach. Yes, some players here and there are not producing the performances but this is normal it is not unusual. I know it’s a marathon and it is about staying in the league for the teams at the bottom and for the teams at the top it is about winning the league.”
The 61-year-old German mentor said his team remained focused on the job at hand and were not thinking too far ahead as they looked to regroup after the Usuthu embarrassment.
“We have the quality and the right mindset which has to be brought in totality. I am not fantasising about winning the league and I never brought this feeling. It is a race; it is a marathon till the end of the season.”
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