NEWS
Kopo reveals plans for Tshwane Derby approach
Pretoria Callies head coach Kwanele Kopo has revealed he intends to change his tactics for Saturday’s Tshwane Derby.
Up the Romans will welcome arch-rivals AmaTuks at Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium in the much-anticipated mouthwatering showdown in the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
The ex-SuperSport United Academy mentor suggested he is planning to deviate from his usual possession-based approach and says his side will set up to play on the counter-attack when Manchester United visit the Etihad Stadium.
Callies succumbed to a 3-1 defeat at the expense of Baroka FC on Wednesday afternoon at Global Stadium. As a result, the side remains winless after three games.
“I feel like we don’t have the aggression upfront even though we have a lot of good technical players and sometimes the problem of technical players is that you tend to overplay,” he told journalists in Polokwane.
“So, we have to look again that if we go with two strikers against Tuks or do we go with our 4-3-3 formation.
“You know when you play 4-3-3 you also need midfielders that can also score goals and at the moment is really not happening, hence today [against Baroka] we started with two strikers.”
Kopo believes Tuks’s strength on the high press balls has been a key factor in their success and he feels moving away from his usual style of play will give his side the best opportunity of nullifying them.
“Tuks is a very physical team. I think they are properly one of the fittest teams in the league because of everything they have [resources] and luckily we played them in a friendly game,” he added.
“They play high pressing game obviously as they play a 3-5-2 formation. We know they play more direct to Pheeane [Kamohelo] looking for a flick or second ball. So first, we have to deal with that.
“However, we have to play, you know when you are building a house and it comes rains and the bricks fall, you don’t kick the house down. You go back and put the bricks back in their right place.
“And hopefully, it will not rain every day, if it rains every day you sit and wait for it when it stops raining. So when we are building we are going to have these knocks.”
The former SA U23 assistant coach is under no illusions as to how important victory is to supporters, but for him, it is about moving one step closer to getting maximum points in order to move from the bottom of the log standings.
“At the moment, it is for us as a team to reflect and fix everything that affects performance because that is the most important thing. So, going to Tuks we have to get the results,” explained Kopo.
With local bragging rights on the line, it’s often said there is more than three points at stake in a derby.
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