Kaizer Chiefs took it too easy against Bloemfontein Celtic - Middendorp

Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp believes his players took the game against Bloemfontein Celtic too easily. 

The Glamour Boys suffered a shock 3-1 loss to Phunya Sele Sele despite first taking the lead through Eric Mathoho. 

Middendorp made four changes to the side that beat Polokwane City 3-2 last weekend, and the Amakhosi coach said he expected those who contributed to the team's win to apply themselves in a similar way against Celtic but he admits it just didn't work.  

"It is always something [that happens] when you take it too easy. I think we had this problem today," Middendorp told SuperSportTV.  

"We were thinking with this setup, how we turned around the Polokwane City game, started today and we were thinking we will take this drive into this game. Unfortunately, it didn't work."

Middendorp feels his players lacked the energy required after going 1-0 up in the first half while he also believes Celtic made it difficult for them by putting more numbers in front of their goalkeeper.  

"We had a 1-0 lead and again it's all about the energy, it's all about how we approach the game and the entire second half of the game... yeah, we haven't done it right. On the other hand, good, Bloemfontein Celtic is a difficult team to play against - they did things right, simple, easy and they put up the wall. 

"At a certain moment, into the right, defending a set-piece with balls bringing in a font in the half-spaces on top of the defence line and we had a lot of issues and challenges there." 

The 61-year-old mentor explained the decision to withdraw Lebogang Manyama at the start of the second half. 

"Manyama already had a certain challenge in terms of a hamstring and it was a risk already to bring him in today. I could see he wasn't free to move." 

"On the right-hand side, we had some problems and I wanted to block it. It was a little bit more solid with Reeve (Frosler) and Daniel Cardoso but unfortunately, more or less in the first second of the second half, we conceded a goal again through this channel. It didn't work," he admitted.  

As disappointing the defeat was to millions of Amakhosi fans, Middendorp warned that every team they play will be difficult to beat at this stage of the season although he reiterated his charges were not in it to win on the night; something he said they will discuss in the next few days before the Stellenbosch FC game on Sunday. 

"Yeah, it is definitely. As I said, it is not about bigger teams or smaller teams. Whatever team you are playing is a big team. Every team has a certain issue. They will be deeply disappointed; there is no doubt about it. 

"We haven't really approached it like we wanted to win. We wanted to do it today and take another big step and that is what we have to discuss among ourselves to be better prepared for Sunday," concluded Middendorp.