Ernst Middendorp has reverse engineered Giovanni Solinas blunders and Kaizer Chiefs is back to where it belongs, at the top.
The German mentor is the man Chiefs needed to rise above the clutter. Perhaps the players understand his philosophy better due to his language. Language barrier was the major factor in his predecessor's failures. Chiefs had no structure and direction under Solinas.
Middendorp has had a full pre-season with the team and he has surely instilled his ideas in the squad. Big teams barely give coaches mandates. When a coach accept a job at a big club his mandate is automatically to win titles. Middendorp is no different to his counterparts at Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates.
Though it was unrealistic to expect Chiefs to challenge for hounors this season after finishing in the bottom half on the standings last season, it was equally bizarre to expect the Naturena based outfit to continue to perform poorly.
Chiefs is playing good football and the results are showing. Sitting at the summit of the Absa Premiership log standings, things look much better at Naturena these days.
After missing out on the MTN8 tournament, owing to their position on the standings last season, Chiefs has to fight for the Telkom knockout at all costs.
