Kaizer Chiefs will look to bounce back from their opening season defeat to Royal AM when they take on Maritzburg United in the first DStv Premiership home game of the 2022/23 season at the FNB Stadium on Tuesday.
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While Chiefs lost their match on Saturday, Maritzburg drew against Sekhukhune on Saturday.
“We saw the need to start with (Dillon) Solomonov“, – admitted coach Artur Zvane. “When he came on (against Royal AM), he gave us that extra offensive piece in the game. Playing at home, we have to come first. He passes the ball well, in terms of decision-making he is 80-90% accurate.
“We deliver George (Matlov) instead of Cole (Alexander), who will play as one of the eight. It will make our lives easier and also in terms of the creativity we need. We give him the freedom to go forward and also help us when we lose the ball up front, apply pressure and prevent the opposition from getting into our half of the defence.’
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The Chiefs coach also offered the following insight:
On the quick turnaround since the league opener against Royal AM:
We only had 24 hours to recover from our last game. During our preparations we did a lot of dead ball situations and also worked on our tactical movements and approach which we needed to cover due to time. We are glad that the guys are responding positively. They seem to be back on, which is very good.
What to expect from Maritzburg United:
Going into the game, we understand that we are playing against a difficult team. In one game they played we saw them play with three at the back and four in the middle and they also have a 4-3-3 diamond formation. They can easily change this to a 3-5-2 or 3-4-2-1. Knowing that coach John Maduka is a creative coach, we prepared for it.
About outstanding players in the ranks of the opposition:
They have good players, they have Bulelani Ndengane leading the back three with Keegan Ritchie and they have a very strong spine. They have two defensive midfielders who are also playmakers and very good on the ball. They have full-backs like Bongani Sam who hit the pitch very hard and Phiwainkosi Zuma is one of their three strikers. They have a very good team, but we can capitalize on some of the space they create going forward. We don’t expect them to create these spaces given that they are playing away. They can form a low block and play on the counter, which we expect.
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