Chippa United target veteran Jabu Maluleke to ensure survival

02 May 2019 - 15:59 By Mark Gleeson
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Jabu Maluleke of Polokwane City during the Absa Premiership match between Polokwane City and Orlando Pirates at Peter Mokaba Stadium on November 06, 2018 in Polokwane, South Africa.
Jabu Maluleke of Polokwane City during the Absa Premiership match between Polokwane City and Orlando Pirates at Peter Mokaba Stadium on November 06, 2018 in Polokwane, South Africa.
Image: Philip Maeta/Gallo Images

Eliminating the potential impact of veteran midfielder Jabu Maluleke is Chippa United’s best chance of winning away at Polokwane City on Saturday and keeping up hopes of avoiding relegation.

Chippa go into the game only one point off bottom place in the Premier Soccer League and must win if they are to stand any chance of avoiding being sucked into the relegation quicksand‚ according to their coach.

And Larsen sees the 37-year-old Maluleke as the key on Saturday at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane when Chippa travel for their penultimate assignment of the season.

“They are very strong on the counter and break attacks‚” he said as the team readied to depart for the long journey to Limpopo.

“The influence of Maluleke is huge as well. We have got to make sure that in a game like this that we pin him down and don’t allow him to dictate.

“We have something we’ve got in mind in our approach‚” he added.

“We will probably go with three in the midfield and hope that somebody does a job on him because everything follows through him‚ everything goes through Jabu‚ every attacking ball into the final third is off his foot.

“So‚ we have to make sure that we cut him down and that our attacking play comes to the fore.

“We have enough in our arsenal to break down that defence but again it is going to come down to being clinical in front of goal.”

Chippa have lost their last four games to slip down to 15th place.

Larsen has already warned they must ready their minds for the post-season relegation playoffs.

The club finish their campaign on Saturday May 12 at home in Port Elizabeth against Kaizer Chiefs‚ who beat them a week ago at the same venue in the semifinal of the Nedbank Cup.

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