Chronicle Editor
Tadious Manyepo, Harare Bureau
GENESIS Mangombe has built his reputation around championing possession-based football.
Most of his products at Yadah including Castle Lager Premier Soccer League leading scorer Fortune Binzi, Brian Chikwenya, Tinotenda Mutyambizi and Tanaka Shandirwa have gone on to make a name for themselves across the league.
He has been in charge of Dynamos for only two weeks, on an interim basis, but his impact on the way the team is doing its business on the field of play is already evident.
The Manicaland-born gaffer has masterminded two wins in two outings with the Glamour Boys coming good in a 1-0 victory over Simba Bhora in a Chibuku Super Cup eliminator a fortnight ago and he followed that up with a 2-0 win over Sheasham at Bata last Sunday.
With head coach Herbert “Jompano” Maruwa suspended and unlikely to bounce back into the fold, Mangombe is the man who is expected to steer the Dynamos ship to the championships to spice up the club’s 60th anniversary celebrations.
DeMbare are nine points behind league pacesetters Highlanders with 15 matches still to be played before the curtain comes down on the marathon.
And Mangombe knows they should get results with nearer to flawless consistency for the team to stand a chance of bagging the league title for the first time since 2014.
With confidence high up in his camp following a 100 percent record under his belt, Mangombe is busy working on strategies to unlock an ultra-defensive mechanism implemented by their next league opponents, Simba Bhora.
The two teams clash at Barbourfields on Sunday, exactly two weeks after Mangombe masterminded that 1-0 win in the Chibuku Super Cup.
Dynamos were made to sweat for that narrow win with Simba Bhora coach Tonderai Ndiraya putting on a solid defensive structure that frustrated the Glamour Boys.
Even when the two teams faced off in the reverse league fixture at the National Sports Stadium four months ago, Dynamos were restricted by the Simba Bhora wall with the match ending goalless.
Mangombe says his tiki-taka philosophy, if executed well, can help break Simba Bhora on Sunday.
“We are trying to move the ball fast so that we can improve on our transition from defence to attack.
“We are working out strategies so that we can break the Simba Bhora defence. Coach Ndiraya (Tonderai) is very good at defending so we are trying to work on how we could penetrate them on Sunday,” said Mangombe.
“I am happy that the bulk of my players now fully understand my philosophy, the things we want as a team.
“We are emphasizing on ball possession that is tiki-taka but with a bias towards quick transition, creating scoring chances. It’s all coming up and I am very happy.
“That’s why you can see that nearly everyone is now scoring. It means we are doing the right thing. We also need to improve our conversion rate. We should convert most of the chances we are creating.
“We have to improve on our pressing. If we lose possession, everyone must know that we should quickly get the ball back.”
With the Dynamos defence yet to concede a goal since Mangombe took over, the former Yadah coach said the department needed to consolidate their strength while also getting involved in building up play from the back.
“Having a solid defence makes our job much easier. If you are not conceding, you stand a very good chance to score which helps you win matches.
“But we are also working on the defenders who we need to also build play from the back. In modern football, centre halves also need to add the numbers upfront.
“The defenders are responding very well to this and I am very happy.”
Online Reporter