DESPITE their on-and-off performance in the Absa Premiership first round, Chippa United coach Dan “Dance” Malesela will not change his team’s style of play.
The Chilli Boys were tipped as dark horses in the race for the Premiership title at the beginning of the season, but slowly faded into the bottom half of the log table as they struggled to find form in the first half of the campaign.
Malesela is a big fan of attacking football and is not prepared to change the way his team plays. The Port Elizabeth based Chippa occupy 11th place in the standings with 16 points from 14 matches.
They lost six games, drew four and won four games in an up-and-down first round.
The Chilli Boys reported for camp after the Christmas recess yesterday and Malesela is hoping they won’t drop as many points as they did in the first round.
Malesela said: “We are going on an all-out attack. My philosophy is attacking football and that will not change. I’m hoping for a better performance, which is why I want the team to improve their scoring ability as well as defence.
“Nothing will change as far as our style is concerned, we will still try to keep the ball and attack as often as we can.”
Malesela’s charges begin their 2017 campaign at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium against Premiership rookies Baroka FC on 8 February.
The coach admits he is disappointed by their lack of good results.
Malesela will spend the next few weeks working on his goal-shy strikers and leaky defence.
The Chilli Boys scored 14 goals and conceded 12 in 14 matches. The statistics are not a good read for their hard-to-please coach, who has the tendency to replace players who are not doing well on the pitch in the early stages of a match.
The PSL is on a four-week break due to the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Gabon from Saturday until 5 February.
Malesela will also use the break to reflect on their first round performance. He said: “The break is a good thing. Players will have more time to recover from injury and to work on new things in training.”
