The
one team which I least expected to lose was Orlando Pirates. Losing 4-1 to
Maluti FET College came as a huge surprise to the majority of football
fanatics, let alone the Pirates’ supporters. Most people have labelled this
poor performance by the buccaneers as “utter humiliation” but I tend to differ.
What happened to the ghost is perfectly normal. They were hit by a rare
phenomenon in football which is called the ‘small team effect’.
This
occurs when an unknown, amateur or semi-professional team is faced with an
unimaginable task of playing against a big team like Orlando Pirates. The
prospects of sharing the same arena with the players you idolise serves as a
great motivation to do well. The hunger to showcase to your talents, fuelled by
knowing that it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, encourages players to do
wonders on the pitch. On the day Maluti FC was driven by these considerations
and they successfully pulled a Baroka on the mighty bucs.
The
best way to avoid this phenomenon is to approach a game of this nature with a
relentless attitude. Sundowns can tell us how it’s done. They netted
twenty-four times against the unknown Powerlines FC last year in the same
competition. This time around they only scored one goal against Ajax which was
enough for them to go through. Credit must be given to Pitso Mosimane and his players
for turning things around after a dismal start to the season. One of the things
that Pitso has managed to do right which Johan Neeskens failed to do is:
·
be
humble and understand the social background of players
·
respect
the needs and demands of Sundowns supporters
·
apply
tactics and methods that are suitable for local football
Neeskens
had a great deal of arrogance about him. His attitude towards the media and
supporters left a lot to be desired. He was not willing to accept the realities
that come with being a coach in the PSL. The players were not responding to his
so-called sophisticated methods. Eventually, player power got the better of
him. He retaliated by benching big-name players and throwing the inexperienced
ones into the deep end. Through his stubbornness to adapt, he ended up putting
his life in danger and turning Sundowns into a joke.
Let’s
hope other foreign coaches who come to work in this country have learnt from
Neeskens’ situation. One of those who seem to have done exactly that is Stuart
Baxter. His managerial philosophy at Chiefs is proving to be very innovative
and result-oriented. The players are responding well to him. However, there are
two crucial factors which have also contributed to his success. The first one
is that he took over a squad that was very demoralised and emotionally abused
by the previous coach, Vladimir Vermezovic. So the attitude of the players
immediately changed for the better when they knew they were getting a new
coach.
The
second factor that is currently playing to Baxter’s favour with regards to
exercising his authority at the club is the absence of Bobby Motaung from the
spotlight. As part of Kaizer Chiefs’ PR strategy to protect their brand, he is
keeping a low profile following criminal charges of fraud and forgery that were
alleged against him. Stuart Baxter is one of the very few managers to enjoy
this privilege at Naturena and is taking full advantage of it.
It
remains to be seen as to whether or not his impressive run continues when
Chiefs takes on Wits University in a league match on Saturday. This is
definitely the biggest tie in local football this coming weekend. The students
will be looking for revenge while Amakhosi will be looking to stay on top of
the log. As hot as they are – I hope Chiefs do not win this one.
