I am not the weak link � Mafu
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Tuesday November 22, 2016 17:17
Chiefs’ chairman, Ernest Molome told a local radio station that the coach has to win the next three games.
“We will look at all angles to see if we have done our job to support the coach and give him what he wanted. But what I can say is that it is a must for us to win the league. Our coming three fixtures are also must win. If we can’t win the league we will find another coach, either locally or outside the country.”
However, the Zimbabwean tactician who joined at the beginning of the season, said the club has lost a good number of players without replacements. He also acknowledged that the team is not performing at its best but refused to take the blame.
“I do not think personally I’m failing to coach. I am coming here with a strategy that is meant to work all the time but that has not got the results yet. It worries me but that doesn’t make me feel that I am the weak link. No, I refuse that I am weak at all. If you have lost the calibre of players that we have lost and bring these youngsters we got to grow them,” he said after his side lost 2-1 to Sankoyo Bush Bucks on Saturday. Mafu bemoaned the delays in acquiring the services of former Zebras striker, Jerome Ramatlhakwana on loan from Don Bosco club in DRC.
He said this has limited his options as he has to rely on Stanley Ngala who signed in off-season.
“I don’t have the personnel upfront, the team knows that. I have got one striker that was signed by the team. I have to work with what I have. Stanley (Ngala) played seven games in a row with no break. I do not have another number nine. So if Jay-Jay (Jerome Ramatlhakwana) is not registered I will have to wait until January to bring someone new. That’s the reality of the situation. I’m not crying. I am not saying that we are not winning because of anything else. We are not winning because we are not scoring. It is a fact that we are not scoring as we are under-staffed upfront,” he said.
Chiefs have collected only six points out of a possible 18. They find themselves in an unfamiliar 10th position.
The Kgatleng giants were also knocked out of the Mascom Top 8 by Jwaneng Galaxy but Mafu remains unshaken.
“I think my job is safe, but a coaching job is never safe. Any coach has a chance to stay and a chance to go,” he said. “It depends on the vision of the club and the reality of the club. You look at what is happening. But this is a coaching job; if the club feels am not the right guy, am ready for that. I’m a professional coach.”