New Chippa coach has time to work on improvements

New Chippa United coach Luc Eymael will use the next two weeks of the international break to work on improving their fortunes after the Eastern Cape club continued their winless start to the Betway Premiership season with a 3-0 home loss to Orlando Pirates on Sunday.

An early defensive error at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium saw Patrick Maswanganyi open the scoring with Deon Hotto adding a second before half-time for the visitors.

After the break, Tsepang Moremi opened his account for his new club after his move from AmaZulu as Pirates ensured a comfortable triumph.

The defeat left Chippa floundering at the foot of the table with a single point from five matches.

“We gave away another silly goal after a few minutes. Unfortunately, we did the same against Richards Bay (on Tuesday) and it completely changes the game. When you are in the position that we are in now, and you give away a gift like that, it's Christmas before Christmas,” Eymael said.

“It was something that we absolutely had to avoid. We had some good momentum, but I didn't see the goalkeeper on the opposite side make big saves, like Stanley (Nwabali) did.

“There's a lot of work to do. I knew that when I was watching from the stands against Richards Bay. We tried to correct some tactical things. So a lot of improvement is needed to try to get Chippa out of this position,” the Belgian coach added after his first match in charge.

“I think we need a few more experienced players. Also, they are not yet fit the way I want them to be. So, a lot of work to do.”

Eymael now has two and a half weeks before Chippa’s next match to work with the squad. Their next outing will be home to newcomers Orbit College at East London on Tuesday, September 16.

“I’m happy that we have two weeks. Like I say, we have to work a lot, also mentally, but that I’m already working on. You saw in the first 45 minutes, the boys didn't give up,” he said.

“We’ll work again on the tactics, we work again physically and at the end of the day, certainly we have to change the mentality. You know, winning is a culture, and I think if we succeed in doing that, this season could be a good season for us.”