Arrows Coach: We Were Worried When Ighodaro Came On
Golden Arrows head coach Pitso Dladla has opened up about their plans on stopping Kaizer Chiefs’ attackers in their MTN8 encounter on Sunday.
Arrows knocked Chiefs out of the MTN8 courtesy of Khulekani Shezi’s solitary second-half goal at FNB Stadium on Sunday evening.
Talking to journalists after the game, Arrows coach Pitso Dladla said that working together as a team is what helped them because everybody forms a very important piece in the puzzle.
“Yeah, look, first thing first, you know, the defensive duties we work on in individual and tactical behaviour. We said, (Sbonelo) Cele if you are isolated, there’s (Luke) Baartman on your side, (Khulekani) Shezi if there’s Mfundo (Vilakazi) on your side or whoever, you must be able to dominate the whole operation. Win the 1v1s and then the cover will be provided, if need be, but if you are isolated, win the 1v1s,” Dladla told the media.
“I think they did this very well, and then also as a group the back four. We told them that look we are working as a group, if one needs to provide cover and have balance, let’s just do that. In front of them also, Nqobeko Dlamini, (Nhlanhla) Zwane and (Ayabulela) Maxwele they also did the shift very well. So defensive duties, honestly, it was not something that we only came here unprepared. We prepared for it in training, and then we created a lot of scenarios that we experienced here in training. Credit goes to the whole technical team.
“Another thing also when they introduced Etiosa (Ighodaro), we were also worried because aerially, he’s very good. So we said, let’s just close the crosses, of which we did that very well. But in terms of the technical team, we worked well together, all of us, everybody forms a very important piece in the puzzle, ” Dladla concluded.
Arrows will now face Mamelodi Sundowns in the semi-finals while defending champions Orlando Pirates take on Sekhukhune United in the other semifinal.
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