Chippa United are chasing their first win of the season under new mentor Luc Eymael when they take on fellow strugglers Orbit College in the Betway Premiership at the Buffalo City Stadium in East London on Tuesday evening.
It will be interesting to see if the team has embraced Eymael’s coaching methods and philosophy during the two-week international break.
The Belgian has only been in the dugout in one game for Chippa, against Orlando Pirates, before the break and had indicated there was a lot of fixing to be done in the team’s execution of its strategies and mental fortitude.
“We’ll work again on the tactics, we work again physically and at the end of the day, certainly we have to change the mentality,” Eymael said before the break.
“Winning is a culture, and it has been a long time since Chippa finished in the top eight, and I think if we succeed in doing that, this season could be a good season for us.”
He was the fourth face leading the dugout in the space of three weeks.
That chopping and changing of coaches has been pointed out as being disruptive to building momentum and described as a cause of their subpar results.
Chippa’s 3-0 defeat to Pirates at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium at the end of August was the Eastern Cape team’s fourth loss in five games, meaning they are at the bottom of the log with just a single point, picked up against Mamelodi Sundowns.
Now the rescue mission begins for Eymael on Tuesday to get out of the relegation zone heading to the end of the first half of the league.
Dating back to his days at Free State Stars, Eymael’s philosophy has always involved a touch of tiki-taka, direct play, good organisation and pressurising teams in their build-ups.
He will hope that his team adjust quickly.
The team arrived in East London at the weekend and on Monday had an evening training session in preparation for Orbit, who are in a similar position to Chippa in terms of how they started the season.
The newly promoted Maw Eko Boys are struggling to adapt in the Betway Premiership and are going to the Chippa game with three consecutive defeats.
They are in 15th place with just three points after five games.
It will be an opportunity to get a full haul of points for Chippa and for Eymael to test out combinations and give his new signings game time.
Both teams have struggled offensively, only scoring two goals in their five games.
Before the break, Eymael had said that was an area of concern which needed quick improvement.
There was a need to build experience for the young players and the old guard.
“This team is very young, and they are not yet fit the way I want them to be. So, a lot of work to do,” he said at the time.
During the international break, Orbit College has had to deal with some off-the field issues.
At the centre of them was swirling debate following critical comments from head coach Pogiso Makhoye about on-loan player from Orlando Pirates, Monnapule Saleng.
Makhoye questioned Saleng’s contribution to the team, saying other players performed better when Saleng was not on the pitch.
Daily Dispatch
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