Chiefs haunted by their old failings

Chiefs started their pre-season without a coach and lost their second match when they were beaten 1-0 by Cape Town City in the Mpumalanga Cultural Xperience Cup at Mbombela Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

City’s winner was scored by Craig Martin in the 62nd minute.

Chiefs were sluggish and defender Daniel Cardoso admitted they were too defensive which put them under pressure but he hopes new coach Giovanni Solinas will change their fortunes once he is allowed to take full charge of the dugout.

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Solinas again watched from the stands as he is still awaiting his work permit.

“Games of this nature are very good for us. They show us where we stand and where we can improve. We have a few positions we need to tweak,” said Cardoso after the match.

“We still play a bit defensive which is not the type of football we should be playing. When the substitutions were made and attacking players were introduced you could see there was a difference. There was more excitement going forward. Playing defensively invites the opponents to come at us. When you have six defensive players you are inviting them to throw more numbers forward,” said the 29-year-old.

Last Saturday’s match was played at a high tempo and Cardoso admitted that having lost it rubs their supporters up the wrong way and he’s hoping Solinas can turn things around.

“He is a great coach. He has a good philosophy. He has missed about threequarters of our pre-season and we wish we had worked with him all along. I think he will have to change things along the way now.

“Patrick Mabedi tried to influence us in one way, but the coach arrived and I hope he can change our fortunes. The fans will be on our back from day one. We have to come out and surprise them. We have to play more attacking football and stop being defensive. That should help us.”

READ: City stun Chiefs in Mpumalanga Cultural Experience Cup