admin
Eddie Chikamhi Sports Reporter
IT’S a measure of the brutality and unpredictability of football that in just two league games, Norman Mapeza and David Mandigora, have switched positions with relentless pressure shifting from the FC Platinum coach to the Dynamos gaffer.
Before the last two games, all the discussion was about Mapeza facing the possibility of being fired by his employers at FC Platinum after a poor start to the season.
To their credit, the club’s leaders, especially team president George Mawere, stood by their man.
Two wins, in as many games, including an impressive destruction of How Mine, and six goals in the bag, have given Mapeza some breathing space ahead of his team’s trip to Harare for a showdown against Dynamos at Rufaro tomorrow.
In sharp contrast, Mandigora has lost back-to-back games — a 0-3 home hammering at the hands of leaders Chicken Inn — and a shock 0-1 defeat to newboys Whawha, have left the DeMbare gaffer in a spot of bother.
Three games, where his men have just picked a point and failed to score, have not helped matters and, although he retains the support of his bosses, there are concerns that this cannot go on forever because soon the fans could have their say.
Club chairman Kenny Mubaiwa said the executive will meet the coaches next week to review the first quarter of the season.
“There are always bound to be problems when you play and don’t score. But I would like to believe the team is playing well despite the lack of goals. What we need probably is to find ways to score goals,” said Mubaiwa.
“If results don’t come like this, it’s our duty as the executive to manage things. We don’t want to put pressure on the technical team because we believe it’s still early in the season to press panic buttons.
“So, we didn’t want to go deep about it when they returned from Whawha since they have another equally important match on Sunday (tomorrow).
“But afterwards, whether we win or lose, we have planned that we will meet to review progress. We need to share ideas with the coaches, they should tell us if they are facing any problems and we see how best to move forward.”
DeMbare team manager Richard Chihoro yesterday appealed to their supporters to rally behind Mandigora and his boys as they hope to go out on a redemption mission, starting against FC Platinum at Rufaro tomorrow.
Mandigora will be under the spotlight and they return to their fortress tomorrow seeking nothing short of victory to ease discontent among supporters.
Chihoro, who is the longest-serving member in the current technical team, yesterday said DeMbare were still work in progress and said the supporters should not start panicking.
DeMbare have had worse starts to a season in the past.
Chihoro said it was not yet time to point fingers after a number of supporters took to social media, criticising the coach for his tactics.
“It’’s not about Mandigora or any individual. The supporters should continue to back the coach and the team as they have been doing all along. We cannot go anywhere as a team if we are not united.
“So, we don’t expect anyone to boo the players or the coach when things appear like we are down. They (supporters) need to be patient and we are promising that they will celebrate again this year.
“Hopefully, we will be able to rise against FC Platinum. We are focused as a team. The supporters are our twelfth man, but that advantage could be lost if we are not united. They should know that this phase will soon be over,” said Chihoro.
DeMbare have dropped into third place in the last two weeks and are now four points shy of leaders Chicken Inn.
Mandigora has been criticised for his ultra-defensive formation, which is being blamed for their inability to score goals as they often play with a lone striker hoping to hit their opponents once or twice and then shut the gates.
The tactic seemed to work well at the start of the season as they went for the opening five matches without defeat.
Mandigora now has almost all his players available for selection and on Thursday they fielded striker Patrick Khumbula from the bench following a long lay-off through injury.
Despite his plans to build his campaign on a strong defence, Mandigora should be worried by the rate at which his side has been conceding goals of late after letting in four in two games.
“We are playing well, but the difference is that we are not scoring goals. We are doing everything that we can, but the ball is just not crossing the line,” said Chihoro.
“It seems luck has deserted us. For the past three games we haven’t been converting the chances that we were creating. We all agree that we need to start scoring goals and we are working on that.
“I’m sure one of these days we will hit our opponents for four or five. We need that finishing touch.
“We have been talking to the players. We want to address the problem and we have been going through the different goal scoring techniques. It’s everyone’s responsibility to score.”
It’s all calm in the FC Platinum camp and they arrive in Harare hopeful that they can inflict more woes on the champions after a strong performance in their last two league matches.
While their victory over Tsholotsho was expected, their destruction of How Mine was impressive and Mapeza and his men know that, if they can power to another victory tomorrow, they would have really turned the corner.
Online Reporter