Report: Moroka Swallows 2 - Platinum Stars 0

A man with a lot on his mind, Zeca Marques.

Zeca Marques relieved some of the pressure on his shoulders as Moroka Swallows defeated Platinum with a 2-0 scoreline at the Dobsonville Stadium on Wednesday evening, 19 December 2012, at Volkswagen Dobsonville Stadium.

 

Goals by Bennett Chenene and Swallows’ top goal-scorer, Katlego Mashego, came at a crucial time for coach Zeca Marques whose side had not won in their eight previous matches.

Swallows now occupy 11^th spot and sit five points above last-placed AmaZulu. 

Q2 winners, Platinum Stars, meanwhile, currently occupy third place, four points behind leaders Kaizer Chiefs, and will enter 2013 still in contention for the title race.

The Birds sat back in the second half, depending largely on counter-attacks to provide a threat on their opponents goal.  The Dube Birds eventually held out for the result and provided a win that will leave their loyal supporters with something to smile about this Christmas.

Katlego Mashego seals he three points with a well-taken goal.

It only takes MTN8 games for the fans to want you gone!

Moroka Swallows have now gone eight competitive matches without a victory.  This poor run of results has put coach Zeca Marques, affectionately known as Majazana, under a lot of pressure.


I attended the last home game against Supersport United and witnessed first-hand how angry and frustrated the Swallows supporters, Maswaiswai were. Many of the Birds faithful want Marques gone.


However, I feel a bit of perspective is needed in this current situation the Birds are experiencing.


One question immediately springs to mind: at the beginning of the season what exactly were the expectations of fans and board alike?


The board did not explicitly state their objectives or Majazana's mandate. Was his mandate to win the league? Was it to repeat last season's performance? Or was the mandate to merely ensure a top 8 finish?


Some supporters expected Swallows to improve on last season (and go on win the league title).  Some supporters, like myself, knew very well that last season was a once-off: the boys played out of their socks and that performance would not be repeated without substantial investment.


Liverpool had a similar experience a few years ago.  In 2009, Liverpool finished as runners-up behind Manchester United, however, since the 2008/09 season, "Pool's league performance has declined drastically to the point where finishing eighth is now described by their current manager as a "fantastic" achievement.


Swallows, just like the legendary club from Merseyside, may be a big club in terms of history but, currently, they are not amongst the biggest in terms of money. Therefore it is no surprise to find three out of the four richest clubs occupying the top 3 places in the Premier Soccer League right now.


On paper, that's to be expected.


Personally, my expectations for Swallows this season were for the team to achieve a top-6 finish and I did not expect to have trophy in the cabinet at all, especially with Mamelodi Sundowns doing what they do best with the chequebook, and Kaizer Chiefs awakening to flex their financial muscle in the transfer market again.


Marques, delivered a trophy within a few months, something which Gordon Igesund was not able to achieve. By turning this Swallows team into MTN8 champions, Marques has already surpassed my expectations.


As an Arsenal supporter - you can trust me on this one - winning a trophy is a much better feeling than securing a respectable league finish.


As bad as we are playing right now, Marques' results, viewed objectively, show that he has been more successful than "GI" (one trophy versus Igesund's tally of zero trophies). I even wrote a blog titled "All hail Majazana" pointing out the reasons as to why Majazana deserves more credit for this achievement.


And yes, Gordon Igesund did indeed build this team up and transform them from being relegation candidates to title contenders within the space of a year. "GI" built the team up, improved their confidence and pretty much turned water into wine (if you listen to some his fans). But, the fact remains that he failed to win a trophy with the team during his stint as head coach. Zeca Marques made a few tweaks here and there (adding free agent Katlego “Mahoota” Mashego to the squad, for example) and took the team to a higher level.


Why is it that when a new coach comes after the previous coach and fails, we blame the new coach, but when the said new coach comes after a relatively successful stint by the previous coach, the credit goes to the previous coach for any success that the team gains?


Here’s one example: Jose Mourinho’s former clubs’ performances usually decline drastically following his departure, and the blame is always laid squarely on the shoulders of the new man.


Yet in Barcelona, new coach Tito Vilanova is not getting the credit he deserves for ensuring Barcelona enjoy one of their best ever La Liga starts to the season. This is due to the fact that some pundits see him as someone who is merely carrying on the good work of former coach, Pep Guardiola.


Marques will probably be fired before the end of year judging on recent statements by Leon Prins.


Yet another local coach will be fired (or allowed to resign depending on how you look at it) due to players performing below par for – using Leon Prins’ words - “no apparent good reason”.


But that is the way things work in the PSL, when it doubt, and when you see “no apparent god reason” for the decline in performance, what do you do? You fire the coach, of course!


Thomas Monyepao

Do follow me on twitter @Tom_18Yards. You can find more of my articles on the onetwo.co.za site.

Tough times for the 2012 MTN8 Champions

Whilst many South African football bloggers and journalists have their focus on analysing the problems plaguing a certain Chloorkop-based club, I would prefer to rather focus on the current state of affairs at Moroka Swallows.


The 2012 MTN8 champions are currently going through a poor run of form and will be thankful for this week’s FIFA international break.


The recent poor run includes two home draws a Telkom Knockout cup loss (albeit on penalties), and a disappointing away loss to Bidvest Wits. Their last win came over a month ago – a rather fortunate win against Steve Khompela’s Free State Stars team.


What exactly has contributed to this poor run of form?

Firstly, the loss of key men has contributed to their inconsistency. In the past two games, the Birds have been missing Luvhengo Mungomeni in the backline. The Birds already have a growing reputation for having a leaky defence, and the loss of the form Mamelodi Sundowns man was bound to make the team significantly weaker. In the two matches in which he has been missing, Swallows gained a solitary point from a possible six.


With Mungomeni missing in action, due to the lack of adequate defensive cover, Coach Zeca Marques decided to deploy the Venda boy with a melanin deficiency, Giorgi Nergadze, in Mungomeni’s usual role. Through no lack of effort, but operating with the turning speed of an oil tanker, Nergadze has not been anywhere near the rock solid partner that Marques, would have preferred to partner the robust Ashraf Hendricks.


Swallows are also still suffering from the loss last season’s top goal-scorer, the influential Siyabonga “Bhele” Nomvethe. Many will quickly point out that Katlego Mashego has stepped into Nomvethe’s boots without breaking a sweat, however – in playing the versatile Mashego upfront – Marques lost out on the opportunity of having an extra option on the left to compete with Bennett Chenene (whose performances have dropped severely in recent times) while also resulting in Swallows losing an experienced consistent goal-getter who would feast upon the chances that the team are currently wasting.


This brings me to the second reason for this poor run: wastefulness at the front and carelessness at the back.


The seemingly ageless Dikgang “Terminator” Mabalane, for example, missed two absolute sitters within the space of two weeks against both Leopards and Chippa United at a point in the game where Swallows could have sealed three points had those opportunities been taken.


These were games that the Birds completely dominated but somehow ended up settling for a total of only two point, leaving the man known as Majazana, Zeca Marques, feeling rather frustrated.


Greg Etafia’s penchant for leaving the post which he is meant to be guarding and his peculiar fondness to standing behind the wall during the opposing team’s free-kick, has recently left many of the Swallows faithful quite frustrated. A schoolboy error by Etafia directly contributed to Leopards’ second goal. This basic goalkeeping error cost the team a valuable two points in a game that Swallows deserved nothing less than the maximum. Against Sundowns in the MTN8 semifinal, a similar error did not prove to be as crucial but nonetheless exasperating.


In the recent draw with Chippa United, Etafia decided to leave his near post open like gates of heaven, thereby gifting the ambitious Chilli Boys, Chippa United, an equalizer from what seemed to be a near-impossible angle to score from.


Lastly, Zeca Marques also contributed his fair share to the recent loss of point. Against Bidvest Wits, Majazana replaced left-winger, Bennet Chenene, for the rather one-footed Felix Obada. With the right-footed Obada being played in an unfamiliar role on the left, the 23-year-old looked terribly uncomfortable, wasted a lot of possession, and provided hardly any decent service for Mashego to work with.


One can’t help but feel for Obada as the player literally ran his socks off, but Marques pretty much ended any hopes of snatching a result against Wits with that ill-advised change.


In the final part of the game against Chippa – attempting to shut the back door – Marques, took off Mpho Maleka for Sibusiso Khumalo, and moved Lerato Chabangu into the striker role. However, if Marques saw no problem in moving Chabangu further up later on in the game, then clearly Majazana is aware of the skills possessed by the man who has previously earned Bafana Bafana caps playing as a striker. In this game, Marques deviated from the norm, and played what looked more like a 4-1-4-1 formation. Had Marques stuck to the usual 4-2-3-1 formation instead, Swallows would only have required the use of one creative midfielder (in this case David Mathebula).


This system would have eliminated the need to play the ineffective Maleka upfront and Marques could have rather chosen either the experienced Macbeth Sibaya or Sibusiso Khumalo to help Lefa Tsutsulupa in the middle.


Swallows’ next game is against table-toppers, Kaizer Chiefs. Swallows will motivated by the fact that in this season’s previous Soweto Derby, the Dube Birds gave reigning PSL champions, Orlando Pirates, a 3-0 walloping.


However, should the Birds fail to get a positive result in this fixture, Swallows will probably drop out of the top half of the PSL log and the pressure will start mounting on Zeca Marques who – despite bringing silverware to the club – is yet to win over many of the Birds faithful.


Thomas Monyepao

Do follow me on twitter  and read as I vent my anger and take off my jacket like Majazana.

This post originally appeared on the onetwo.co.za site on the 14th of November 2012.

T20 and Q-Innovation: Shorter formats for both cricket and PSL fans...

 464 minutes, 367 deliveries, and 110 runs from almost 6 sessions of batting. This was only part of an enthralling 5 days of cricket between the number one-ranked team in the world, South Africa, and Australia, a country that has lost only 2 home Test series in the past 2 decades.


Make no mistake about it, this was a 10 out of 10 performance from both teams and it provided viewers with huge amounts of drama.


The purists will no doubt have enjoyed such a match.


The suits, however, will tell you that T20 cricket is where the future (and the money) of the game lies. They will say this based on the belief that the general public just does not have enough time to watch five consecutive six-hour days of cricket which may or may not result in one team winning. They will justify this by stating that Test cricket does not meet the relevance of a generation for whom option, speed and simplicity are the most important things. Whether that is true or not, one can see the logic in their thinking.


The legendary Premier Soccer League chairman, Dr Irvin Khoza, highlighted this view at the launch of Q-innovation saying, “Ours has become a world of instant gratification where ‘now’ is the only time.”


Using this logic, Dr Khoza devised and subsequently introduced the new innovation, Q-Innovation, which ticks all the boxes: simplicity, speed (it does not take nine months to find a winner), and option (the glory-hunting fan can “switch off” from soccer until the next quarter where each team starts the “quarter” afresh with fair chance at winning).


I must admit, however, that at the moment, I am not a big fan of the Q-innovation. South African soccer clubs already participate in three tournaments (the MTN8, Telkom Knockout, and the Nedbank cup) – and this is excluding the CAF tournaments and the various pre-season tournaments which, unlike in the rest of the world, local fans actually take very seriously. These tournaments provide more than enough speedy and simple routes to glory. The most complicated thing in this process is usually explaining the away-goal rule to a friend in the bar who has had one too many pink drinks.


The Absa Premiership therefore serves as the only competition in the season which is played over different months and seasons whereby teams go through peaks and troughs on the way to success or maybe to relegation. Every match counts even though every match may not have the do-or-die factor. Every win, every point gained, and every goal contributing to a team’s goal difference is important. Similarly – in Test cricket – every session, every over lost to rain, and every dropped catch – as Faf du Plessis will tell you – can mean the difference between not only winning a match but winning a series, and sometimes even mean the difference between becoming the top ranked team in the world. The many twists and turns on the way to success grip viewers’ attention for prolonged periods.


The recent Test match between Australia and the Proteas had South African viewers in despair for most of the five days. with South Africans collectively breathing a huge sigh of relief following the South African batsmen’s resolve to bat out the final day and salvage a an incredible draw. And there is still, potentially, another five days of cricket left in the series to decide the winner of this Test series and decide who leaves with number one position in the world Test ranking. This is what the game is about for the purists.


In the league, unlike in cup competitions, the best team will normally win the trophy. Squad depth and superior man-management over the course of nine months, coupled with injuries, suspensions, momentum, and other factors contribute to the drama that is league football. Every team plays against all the other teams twice – a fair method of determining a champion.
Q-innovation, however, consist of seven or eight matches. Each particular club won’t play against all the other teams in the league.


The obvious advantage in this scenario is that the PSL may manage to keep viewers’ attention over the course of the season instead of only attracting large-scale attention during the final five or six games of the season. Q-Innovation is, essentially, four shorter competitions within one larger competition. Technically, this means eight different local competitions that PSL clubs compete in, thereby satisfying the appetite of the modern consumer who requires speed and simplicity over the marathon of a regular league season.


I do wonder where the changes and the innovations will end. When One Day Internationals were introduced to cricket, many thought that no further serious innovations would be introduced to the game. However, T20 came along and it has revolutionized the sport; offering spectators a game of cricket in less than four hours.


Will we see similar changes occurring in football one day? Will the Q-innovation concept spread across the world and be improved and simplified even more? In twenty years time, will league competitions even exist? Will we live in a world where we have an abundance of tournaments with simple formats providing winners in quick time?

“I have said time and time again that you cannot dry today’s washing with yesterday’s sun. – Irvin Khoza

Make of this statement what you will. It is, however, refreshing to see that the PSL chairman is open to innovation and change. Soccer competes with other sports and recreational activities for people’s time and money.


In the search for more of the nation’s Randelas, I do hope that the true test of a champion, the league, is never lost.

Thomas Monyepao

This post originally appeared on the onetwo.co.za site on the 27th of November 2012.

Keep the conversation going in the comments below  on twitter @onetwosoccer or chat with me @tom_18yards