Coach Steve Komphela has explained why Orlando Pirates looked very dominant against Kaizer Chiefs in Saturday's Soweto Derby at the FNB Stadium.
According to Komphela, the opposition's setup made it difficult for Amakhosi to play their usual free-flowing football as he feels Micho Sredojevic overloaded the midfield.
However, the 50-year-old is pleased with his team's response in the second half, although he feels the game was supposed to have goals given a number of goalscoring chances created.
“The reason Pirates managed to dominate in the first half was how they set up. They had Kutumela as the leading striker and the man supporting him, Makola, played just in front of our midfielders,” Komphela told the media after the game.
“They overloaded as well with Rakhale and Qalinge, and by virtue of such a setup they obviously dominated. I thought we had to be very patient and disciplined not to allow them beyond our bands of defence. Here and there they did threaten, and I thought we could have done better upon regaining possession. In any counter-attacking game there are three steps: Cut the ball, stabilize and then you can be on a counter," he continued.
Bernard Parker led the Amakhosi attack, but he wasn't as effective, and Komphela moved quickly to defend his star striker.
“Our stabilising pass was not proper, and even our diagonal passes were not coming through and that left [Bernard] Parker more isolated, which was the reason (he looked flat)," he explained.
“At half-time we had to manipulate the structure by bringing in Pule Ekstein and ‘Shabba’ next to Parker, and you saw immediately there was change when the game got a bit better and we got more possession. In terms of chances, I thought we created enough, even in the first half we hit the upright (through) Siya Ngezana. I thought he could have scored. We then had to pull him out due to cramps," Komphela continued.
Asked if he would take a point against their rivals, Komphela said he would considering that they had two tough matches in less than a week.
He is happy that Chiefs managed to collect four out of a possible six against two of the PSL's big clubs.
“In my opinion I thought, ‘A point, Steve, will you take it?' In as much as it is sad that we have not yet won a game at home this season, I would say, ‘It’s okay, let’s take it'," admitted the 50-year-old.
“You take it, but you’re not completely satisfied. Three (away to Sundowns) plus one [against Pirates] equals four – four out of six is a pass-mark,” added Komphela.
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