Kaizer Chiefs head coach Stuart Baxter is buoyant ahead of the Soweto derby against Orlando Pirates after a 1-0 win against Baroka in the DStv Premiership clash at the Peter Mokaba Stadium at the weekend.
A late Khama Billiat strike was enough to give Amakhosi the full points in Polokwane, sending Chiefs to second place on the table, still a massive 16 points behind runaway leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.
Baxter applauded his side for managing to win over Baroka, who had been a bogey team for Chiefs. “The lads deserve a massive pat on the back for two reasons; one, they kept going, and two, they kept believing,” said Baxter.
“We have Pirates in the next game. Traditionally with the game before, you’re always thinking will they take their eye off the ball?
“I thought we kept discipline well and now we take positives out of this, I think there were many. We take the three points and we look forward to the derby,” said the British mentor.
A positive Baxter takes into derby week is the effort his team put in on the offensive end. He’ll hope they will be able to replicate the attacking patterns they showed against Baroka when they meet Pirates on Saturday at the Orlando Stadium at 3.30pm.
“We played some really good stuff at times, especially in the last third. Our build[-up] play was quite good, we didn’t lose the ball too much in the building phase. Our movement was quite good.
“In the first half we created lots of good chances, in the second half we got on the sides; we were crossing and we produced dangerous situations,” said Baxter.
Baxter is expecting to have a full squad at his disposal but he’s also wary of the attacking threat that their archrivals Pirates will pose come Saturday. His conundrum is which formation to play at the back.
“Pirates is a completely different game. Will we play four at the back or with three centre-backs? That remains to be seen.
“We do have some fresh legs. I’m expecting Bernard [Parker] to be back, Samir [Nurkovic] has got a good hour under his belt, Leo [Castro] has time under his belt. We got Lebo [Manyama] on the field. We have got almost a full squad to look at now,” he said.
Late win at Baroka boost for Chiefs as derby looms
Baxter applauds Amakhosi’s discipline ahead of big match
Image: Ryan Wilkisky/Backpagepix
Kaizer Chiefs head coach Stuart Baxter is buoyant ahead of the Soweto derby against Orlando Pirates after a 1-0 win against Baroka in the DStv Premiership clash at the Peter Mokaba Stadium at the weekend.
A late Khama Billiat strike was enough to give Amakhosi the full points in Polokwane, sending Chiefs to second place on the table, still a massive 16 points behind runaway leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.
Baxter applauded his side for managing to win over Baroka, who had been a bogey team for Chiefs. “The lads deserve a massive pat on the back for two reasons; one, they kept going, and two, they kept believing,” said Baxter.
“We have Pirates in the next game. Traditionally with the game before, you’re always thinking will they take their eye off the ball?
“I thought we kept discipline well and now we take positives out of this, I think there were many. We take the three points and we look forward to the derby,” said the British mentor.
A positive Baxter takes into derby week is the effort his team put in on the offensive end. He’ll hope they will be able to replicate the attacking patterns they showed against Baroka when they meet Pirates on Saturday at the Orlando Stadium at 3.30pm.
“We played some really good stuff at times, especially in the last third. Our build[-up] play was quite good, we didn’t lose the ball too much in the building phase. Our movement was quite good.
“In the first half we created lots of good chances, in the second half we got on the sides; we were crossing and we produced dangerous situations,” said Baxter.
Baxter is expecting to have a full squad at his disposal but he’s also wary of the attacking threat that their archrivals Pirates will pose come Saturday. His conundrum is which formation to play at the back.
“Pirates is a completely different game. Will we play four at the back or with three centre-backs? That remains to be seen.
“We do have some fresh legs. I’m expecting Bernard [Parker] to be back, Samir [Nurkovic] has got a good hour under his belt, Leo [Castro] has time under his belt. We got Lebo [Manyama] on the field. We have got almost a full squad to look at now,” he said.
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