HIGHLANDERS head coach Kelvin Kaindu (KK) has received no kind words from Bosso supporters following the team’s 2-1 loss to Premiership new boys How Mine at Barbourfields Stadium (BF)on Sunday.
Report by Fortune Mbele
The general feeling among the Bosso fans is that the Zambian coach is experimenting with the team’s composition with every game and is yet to find a regular side after last season’s intimations that he was building a team to compete this year.
The loss by Highlanders ensured that FC Platinum returned to the top of the Castle Lager Premiership log-standings with 21 points after they drew 1-1 with Monomotapa at Rufaro Stadium on Saturday. Bosso, on 20 points, meet Monomotapa at the same venue on Thursday.
FC Platinum take on struggling Hwange at Mandava tomorrow with league champions Dynamos gradually encroaching the peak of the log-standings with 18 points after beating arch-rivals Caps United 1-0 at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday and have another tough encounter against Harare City at Rufaro Stadium tomorrow.
Bosso fans feel, through Facebook discussions, too many changes are being made to the team, and that cost Bosso the three points against How Mine, the second defeat of the season at Emagumeni.
Victor November: “Mr KK, forewarned is forearmed my brother! You must not experiment with strange line ups week in week out. Team building time passed way back! Losing at BF and worse to a team full of players you decided not to sign is an embarrassment that will never be tolerated. You don’t bench players like Mthulisi Maphosa and Njabulo Ncube just for the sake of it.”
Patrick Ndlovu: “We could have been better with Mthulisi coming in as a substitute because clearly our midfield struggled in the second half. For us to bring in two strikers when we were being dominated was surely going to be a recipe for disaster.
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No one is saying we were not going to lose without Mthulisi, but he would have made a big deference, especially in that second half. We all believe in KK, but having a different midfield line-up every week is just doing more harm to our consistency. We are chopping and changing that team willy-nilly.
Besides (Innocent) Mapuranga, which player has played all games? Are we still trying combinations for a team whose 90% of players have been together for more than a year? So if you are saying KK probably decided to rest players then I partly agree that he “stuffed-up” tactically and underrated How-Mine?”
Nodumo Nyathi had this to say: “KK lost it and must be told. Whether Mthulisi could have changed the game is another issue, but in the second half we were losing midfield battles. So why bring Ozzy (Ozias Zibande)?”
However, some fans have stood by the coach despite the loss which saw Zibande bounce back with Masimba Mambare playing after joining the team at the end of the week after trials with South African side AmaZulu.
Leslie Phiri: “I don’t believe in this barrage of attack on the coach, vilifying him is worse than shooting ourselves in the leg. Maphosa is not Highlanders and Highlanders is not Maphosa!
Let the coach do his job. We lost against Motor Action when Mthulisi was there. I believe in KK and said it at the beginning of the week that How Mine are a tricky side and KK was right in changing the team, had he won you would all be heaping praises on him!
Bongs Mayih: “If we thought How Mine were pushovers because they are a new team in the league, then we set ourselves up for this loss. There are no small teams. Maybe next time we’ll know to prepare for every game as if we are playing big guns like Dynamos or Caps.”
However, Kaindu believes Bosso played one of their best games of the season on Sunday and said they were unlucky to lose to How Mine after letting in a “silly” goal seven minutes from time.
