Many of you might find it strange that I have written my column on a Thursday, a day earlier than it usually appears on the website. The reason that I have done that is because I felt compelled to speak up about what has been going on in our team over the past few weeks, with us losing games at a very important stage of the campaign.

Over the past few weeks I feel that perhaps we might have lost the games before we even go to the stadium. Against Sundowns we really lost the battle of wits and in our minds the game was over before it started. With regards to the Golden Arrows game my take is that with all the pressure from losing the previous week, we had a build up of all the pressure, which resulted in the players not being able to play a normal game, and we lost the game.

So I ask the question is winning in the mind? Well sometime answer in the affirmative to that question and other in the negative the thing is - has winning been in our minds recently? I certainly think so - remember we finished December on a high note and had lofty ambitions when the New Year began; we were hoping to start it off with a win against SuperSport. Instead we lost the game and things have generally gone pear shaped for us since, as we have lost five out of seven games.

Since I joined Chiefs at the start of the 2005 – 2006 season my aim was to create a winning attitude within the team, the kind of attitude that would see us win more than just the two trophies that we have won since my arrival at the club.

Myself, along with my technical team have endeavoured to ensure that the players enjoy themselves, whether it be in training or in a match. For us what is important for me is to see the team enjoying themselves and winning matches, the only way to be give your best at anything is to enjoy what you are doing.

By getting the players to enjoy what they are doing, we were building a kind of bond between the players that could not be broken, in addition we wanted to make the players mentally tough.

Where the game was being played or who the opponent was would be irrelevant, what was of relevance was the fact that because they were enjoying themselves, they would be able to excel because of the mere fact that whenever they went out onto the pitch the only thing they would care about is the one thing that put them on that field. That is the game of soccer and they would have the desire to want to be the best as well as giving the best they can to the teams cause.

A team like Kaizer Chiefs has a huge tradition and following players who play for this team are very fortunate, as they play for a team who affords it players the best of infrastructure in order for them to be competitive on the field of play.

Our aim has been to create a kind of wonderful sense of self-fulfilment every time a player hears that he is in the team for a certain match, that each and every guy must be proud to represent the club. Furthermore they need to take pride in the fact that they have the privilege of wearing the Chiefs jersey, and in addition must be wanting to uphold the winning mentality of this team.

Well one might ask himself this coach talks the talk, what has gone wrong and why has he not implemented what he has spelt out earlier in these pages - well the truth is nothing has changed. Our players still have the same hunger and desire for victory they shared some eighteen months ago when I started out of Chiefs.

The only thing that has changed is the fact that we have been unable to get the type of results, which could have kept us in the league race. Before everything else the players have put the supporters ahead of them and are not happy to disappoint them in any way, shape or form.

As a team we have become realistic of the fact that we are unable to win the league from this point. What we will do is improve our football and continue to keep the flames of success burning. It does not help for us to start being lethargic in our remaining league games, we will come out fighting and aim to finish as high up on the table as we possibly can. We will finish off the season strongly and hopefully the momentum we can gain over the next few months, will help the team going into the 2007-2008 season.

Let me state that the fun and the enjoyment and the will to win still exists in the team. On Wednesday evening we took the guys on an outing with their families to the Wanderers Stadium to watch a cricket match. I must add that it was a very interesting experience for me and most of the guys as it was our first time going to a cricket match.

The idea was for the players to be able to bring their families along to the game, so that we could all have a good time away from the pressures of the training ground. At the end of the game we had the opportunity to meet with the South African Cricket team, it was nice of them to host us in the changing room afterwards as our players socialized with them.

Overall it was good for our motivation to get to meet such competitive athletes who compete at the highest level internationally, and could soon become the best cricket team in the world. It was good for me to observe the camaraderie and closeness amongst the South African players, which is very much similar to the way teams are in our camp.

As a coach it is important to look at the way coaches of other sporting codes approach their jobs, it became clear to me that the Pakistan coach is a South African guy who was amongst the countries most successful cricket coaches. He would have known South Africa very well, despite this the South African team managed to win the series which demonstrates the mental toughness in their team.

We have a game against Bidvest Wits this weekend which we want to use as the beginning not to an end, but we hope will be the start of a period which will culminate in league success in about fifteen months from now. Much has been said about the fact that we have to play the game at the Bidvest Stadium, which is a small ground in comparison to some of the others that we have played at.

From the supporters point of view it is a let down as we do not play in Johannesburg often these days, due to the construction and renovations of various stadiums in the run up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. On the other hand it is their home game and we have to play where the home team wants to host us, so we will make the short trip across the M1 motorway and go up against Wits on Sunday.

To me it does not matter where the game is played - the outcome of the match and the kind of football that we display is more important to me, as I am looking for a marked improvement from all departments on Sunday.

Hope to speak to you soon

Ernst Middendorp