Cape Town City head coach Eric Tinkler says while a lot has changed since they last played Kaizer Chiefs, he is looking for his team to get back to winning ways when they meet at Athlone Stadium on Saturday.
City host Chiefs on Saturday afternoon, and will be looking to complete the double over the Amakhosi, having beaten them in the first-round fixture last year.
However City’s start to 2024 has not been ideal, and after starting the year in second place, they have dropped down to fifth, two spots and two points ahead of Chiefs.
“Obviously, in the world of sport…” Tinkler said.
“You can have two draws, or three draws and then you lose and now ‘Oh, you haven’t won in four games’, or you win and you haven’t lost in four games.
“That’s how quickly football can change, the way the media interpret things, so important for us to look to try and get back to winning ways and no better team to do it against than Kaizer Chiefs.
“But I think they’re a different team to when we played them at the beginning of the season, and it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be tough.”
When City did last face Chiefs, Molefi Ntseki was still in charge of the team, and iDiski Times asked Tinkler if a lot had changed under Johnson.
“Yes, and no,” The City coach replied.
“I think they’re still a team that’s extremely dangerous on the counterattack, they’ve got a lot of speed up front. So they look to utilise and play with that speed.
“But I think certain areas of their game, they still have their issues that we need to look to exploit but the threat up front is a massive threat.
“The speed that they have, and they seem to be utilising it a lot more successfully right now than what they were at the beginning of the season.
“Because they would also play more like counterattack football, but now I don’t think they’re a counterattacking team, they’re a team that looks to play through the phases, but they’re a team that can go pretty direct but balls in behind because of the pace that they have.
“So we’ve got to deal with that, make sure that we deal with that and be wary of that.
“But for me, it’s about us now. I think we spend too much time worrying about the opposition and forget about ourselves.”
