'We want to win everything,' says Dan Malesela after Royal’s third successive win over Kaizer Chiefs

Royal AM co-coach Dan Malesela wants his team to win something in every competition they’ll play this season, and is pleased they’ve demonstrated that with their 1-0 victory over Kaizer Chiefs in their opening DStv Premiership match at the weekend.

Brazilian defender Ricardo Nescient scored the lone strike which gave the Durban side their third successive league win over Chiefs at the Chatsworth Stadium in Durban on Saturday. Malesela said they’ll to continue on that note in the coming matches to achieve their ambitions for the season.

“The president (Shauwn Mkhize) said top eight but I think she’s being modest,” Malesela said of the club’s target in their second season in the top flight.

“We can achieve. It will all depend but for me, I say go with the flow and see.

“Go every time with a positive attitude and positive approach. We cannot go into these competitions and say we just want to participate. We have a top eight (MTN8) and we must win. In the league we must get a very good position, probably better than last season (third). Nedbank (Cup) we must win, every time in the season there must be something to win.”  

On their success over Chiefs, Malesela accepted they didn’t dominate the match but what mattered for him is that they got the result.

“Not the prettiest game from our side because we know we can do better but we had our moments as well,” said Malesela who is in the coaching three at the club alongside Khabo Zondo and Abram Nteo.

“What counts is that there are points now. I was telling the players that we don’t want to find ourselves in a situation where towards the end of the season you start telling them ‘this is like a cup final’ and you’re playing a league game. No. We start the knockouts now and the cup final now and life will be easy.”

Malesela revealed there are lots of debates among the three Royal coaches but in the end they always aim to find solutions.

“Lots of arguments at night, lots of debates to find solutions,” he said.

“It’s good at the end of the day. We fight healthy and there’s no-one who went to bed angry and all of that and feeling sidelined and stuff like that.

“We argue so we can find solutions and be constructive. I said to the coaches I like solutions as opposed to dwelling on problems. Let’s find solutions and in that way we’ll make progress.”

Malesela was pleased with the display by New Zealand striker Andre de Jong who Royal signed from neighbours AmaZulu FC

“I watched him at AmaZulu and when I got here I said ‘is this boy going to play?’ because he was not a regular at AmaZulu,” said Malesela.

“In the practice matches he surprised me and I said here’s a rare bread, umlungu (a white person). It’s pleasing to see and I think he can be better and better every time.”

Royal will visit Chippa United in Gqeberha on Wednesday before travelling to Cape Town on Saturday for a date with Stellenbosch FC. Malesela said it will be important to quickly get over the excitement of beating  Chiefs and start focusing on the two games.

“It’s always a danger when you play Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns because people think that it is the ultimate and yet all the teams are fighting. We have to tread verycarefully. I’m one person who doesn’t like getting excited for a long time,” he said.