Posted in News on Apr 04, 2007.
The Serbian coach who assumed the mantle of Chiefs coach in early March made public his disapproval of his teams showing against Swallows, and has been hard at work over the past week in motivating his charges towards turning out a display like they did during his first game in charge on the 10th March when Chiefs were rampant in a 4-0 win over Bloemfontein Celtic. Without top goal scorer Kaizer Motaung Junior and midfield kingpin Tinashe Nengomasha for the visit of Leopards, Papic believes that he has a number of players waiting in the wings who will be capable of performing the duties of the missing players.
Historically Speaking
The Amakhosi and Leopards have been going at each other since the 2001 – 2002 season, and surprising as it may sound it took Chiefs three games before they could record their first win over Leopards. What makes further enjoyable reading is that David Radebe’s 21st minute goal during a 2-1 Chiefs win during the 2002 – 2003 season apart from being Chiefs first league win over Leopards. Radebe earned himself a place in the history books as the first Chiefs player to score a goal against Black Leopards, because of the mere fact that when the teams met for the first time in September 2002 and played out a 2-2 draw. The two goals scored by Chiefs during that game, came courtesy of Black Leopards players Mnguni and George Seneo thus Radebe’s 2 goals in the 2-1 win in 2003 were the first goals scored by a Chiefs player against Lidoda Duvha.
While Chiefs did find the going tough against Leopards during the Limpopo based teams initial years in the top flight, they did experience a turn around in fortune during their championship winning seasons in 2003 – 2004 and 2004 – 2005. In the former season a Shoes Moshoeu hat trick at Ellis Park set Chiefs up for a 5-0 win over Leopards, they followed it up by scoring three more goals during a 3-1 win in the second game. In 2004 – 2005 Chiefs scored two 3-0 victories home and away over Leopards with Collins Mbesuma finding the net on four occasions in league games against Leopards during the 2004 – 2005 season. While the teams played out to draws last season Chiefs have already drawn first blood this term with a convincing 3-1 win over Leopards in November last year away from home in Thoyandou. The Amakhosi will be looking to repeat that feat on Sunday and do the league double over Leopards with back-to-back league victories.
Form
Both Chiefs and Leopards have been guilty of being inconsistent in recent times with the Amakhosi wiping off the good work done during the 4-0 victory over Bloemfontein Celtic, with a less sparkling display during their 1-1 draw with Moroka Swallows on Sunday. Chiefs lacklustre performance against Swallows could also be attributed to the fact that The Amakhosi were inactive in competitive action for two weeks and had little time to train together as a number of players were on international duty. Coach Kosta Papic though is not looking for excuses and is looking for an improvement in all areas from his team. With one win out of their last three games, Papic will do all he can to get his team to go all out for a win, which could propel them into second place in the league standings.
Black Leopards have a similar win rate to Chiefs in recent times having won just one of their last three games, having recently being victorious against Wits they had lost previous games to Sundowns and Golden Arrows. Overall Leopards have not shown much of a fight this season and even new coach German born Hans Dietmer Schmidt has been unable to lift Leopards relegation woes. Currently fourth from bottom and well with in the relegation zone, Leopards will be aiming to lift their game like they did against Wits on Saturday, to find three much wanted points which will lift the relegation gloom. It could be a bridge too far for them with Chiefs looking to cement their place in the top four, with second spot in the league as bait for Chiefs Leopards could well find the task of taking three points away on Sunday a daunting one.
Key Players
In the absence of Kaizer Motaung Junior a lot will rest for Chiefs on Shaun Bartlett in attack, the highly experienced former Bafana Bafana striker has the credentials to do the damage against a Leopards team who have conceded 38 goals already this season. Bartlett will be looking to use the game against Leopards to nudge his goal tally for the season currently on eight towards double figures, and it would be hard to be against him doing so.
While there have not been many shining performances amongst the Leopards contingent this past season, midfielder Robert Ngambi has been his usual consistent self. With a number of big performances this past season Ngambi has really played a big part in keeping his teams hopes of staying in the PSL afloat, they will once again look towards him to be the inspiration in what will be a crucial game that could well decide Leopards fate in their bid for PSL survival.
Kaizer Chiefs Vs Black Leopards results since 2001
2001 – 2002
Kaizer Chiefs 2 (Mnguni o.g., Seneo o.g.) Black Leopards 2 (Mabosha, Sikhiwivhilu)
Black Leopards 2 (Mnguni, Kubeka o.g.) Kaizer Chiefs 0
2002 – 2003
Black Leopards 1 (Netshidzivhe) Kaizer Chiefs 2 (Radebe x2)
Kaizer Chiefs 0 Black Leopards 3 (Netshidzivhe, Masanabo x2)
2003 – 2004
Kaizer Chiefs 5 (Moshoeu x3, Dlamini, Zwane) Black Leopards 0
Black Leopards 1 (Mushangazikhe) Kaizer Chiefs 3 (Mbesuma, Khanye, Dlamini)
2004 – 2005
Black Leopards 0 Kaizer Chiefs 3 (Mbesuma x 2, Mathebula)
Kaizer Chiefs 3 (Mbesuma x2, Sibeko) Black Leopards 0
2005 – 2006
Kaizer Chiefs 0 Black Leopards 0
Black Leopards 2 (Ramudzuli, Ngambi) Kaizer Chiefs 2 (Mathebula, Radebe)
2006 – 2007
Black Leopards 1 (Ngambi) Kaizer Chiefs 3 (Bartlett, Mayo, Radebe)
Kaizer Chiefs Vs Black Leopards Head to Head since 2001 PSL Only
P W L D GF GA GD
Kaizer Chiefs 11 6 2 3 23 12 11
Black Leopards 11 2 6 3 12 23 -11
