Chippa United coach Dan “Dance” Malesela had more questions than answers after his side drew 2-2 with Lamontville Golden Arrows in an exciting Premier Soccer League showdown at Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane on Friday night.
Disappointment was written all over his face when he spoke to journalists after the entertaining clash, telling them that his charges played more as individuals than as a unit in the second half which had three goals in it.
He also identified a lack of character from some of his players, something he said if not fixed before tomorrow night’s game with Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld, the African champions would make them pay dearly.
The former Orlando Pirates and Sundowns player criticised his players for playing worse than they did in their 2-0 loss to Bloemfontein Celtic in their previous game even though they played with 10 men for most of that game.
“I’ve moved away from questioning my players’ character you know. We play with a bit of character week and we displayed a bit of complacency so you wonder where the consistency will come from,” he said.
Malesela said his team lacked the same character that they had against Celtic.
“I’m beginning to question certain things that we are doing. Last week we had 10 men, we fought, this week we have 11 men and we have this team which we are exposing so bad.
“Then we say ‘oh okay, equalise and again equalise’. That’s now how we win matches,” the visibly disappointed Malesela said.
The tactician said he did not know what changed from the team’s first half performance to the second.
Arrows were ripe for peaking in the second half as they attacked, exposing themselves at the back.
“And then we decided ‘ah we’ll have the ball in the middle, lose it there, don’t worry, running with the ball, started playing as individuals’ when we played as a team in the first half.
“Some people decided ‘it’s time for me to shine as an individual’,” he said, pointing out Arrows’ second goal should have been defended as the ball had been in the air for a while.
With the return game to Mamelodi Sundowns tomorrow night, will there be enough time for Malesela to rectify the mistakes he identified from the Arrows game?
“I don’t have to rectify them – they must do it. Now it’s up to the players to man up,” he said.
When Chippa and Sundowns had a dance on Valentine’s Day, the defending champs rested key players like captain Hlompho Kekana, Khama Billiat and Denis Onyango as they had one eye on the Super Cup final against TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
But Pitso Mosimane will likely play his best starting line-up as he hopes to turn the games in hand into three points just as he did against Bidvest Wits on Saturday when they beat them 2-0.
Arrows coach Clinton Larsen was equally disappointed at how much time on the ball they gave Chippa in the first half.
“They kept the ball very well but we shouldn’t have allowed them to keep it so close to our goal.
“We showed them too much respect in the first half. We were supposed to press them in our own half but still Sangweni, Zuke, Sali and Masuku were getting onto the ball under no form of pressure whatsoever.
“Once we changed that, pushed our line a little bit higher, started putting their central defenders under pressure, they started to panic and gave possession away,” he said.