The resignation of Stuart Baxter as Bafana Bafana head coach on Friday is placing tremendous pressure on someone like Kaizer Chiefs head coach Ernst Middendorp to hit the ground running in the Absa premiership this weekend.
It came as a huge surprise that Chiefs decided to continue with Middendorp this season despite having finished outside the top eight last season and also losing to National First Division side TS Galaxy in the Nedbank Cup final.
With no MTN8 or CAF inter-club competition commitment, there are no excuses for Middendorp not to have a good start when they visit Highlands Park at Makhulong stadium on Sunday.
Speculation is rife that anything a faltering start into the first few matches in the league, could see the Chiefs management looking elsewhere for solutions.
Middendorp was vocal about last weekend’s starting line-up in the Carling Black Label Cup against Orlando Pirates, which was put together by the supporters.
They ended up losing 2-0 but he’s clear that come Sunday, he’s fielding a totally different starting line-up.
Chiefs has signed five players in this transfer window including the latest addition of Yagan Sasman from Ajax Cape Town this week.
Amakhosi veteran attacker Bernard Parker says on Sunday they are up against a Highlands Park that very good in applying the basics of the game.
Sunday’s game at Makhulong stadium is already sold out and the stands are expected to be dominated by the gold and black colours of Amakhosi as usual.
And Parker is hoping that they won’t disappoint them this time around. – Report by Velile Mnyandu
