‘We have to blame ourselves,’ Maritzburg coach Maduka after loss to Chiefs

After Maritzburg United were overpowered 3-0 by Kaizer Chiefs on Tuesday night, coach John Maduka ruefully admitted they have only themselves to blame.

This result leaves United winless two matches into the season and will be under pressure for a positive result when they host Swallows at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Friday.

“We have to blame ourselves,” said Maduka, assessing their performance. “We started slow and made mistakes that made things difficult for ourselves. I don’t think we were outplayed but if you make mistakes you are going to get punished and that’s what happened to us.”

The fixture list is congested this season and Maduka said it’s no excuse that their matches are coming thick and fast.

“Most of our boys did not pitch but it cannot be used an excuse that we played back-to-back matches because Chiefs also played back-to-back matches.

“All the teams are playing tight fixtures and it is something we must adapt to, we have to use other players as well. We signed a couple of players and during the coming games we must try to give them opportunities, because if we use the same players it is going to be difficult.

“Some players take time to recover and those who have recovered we will be able to use and freshen up the team.”

Maduka went on to explain that they lost the match because they were too negative.

“We played too many negative balls in the build-up phase instead of going forward and that’s why we made changes at the beginning of the second half, to try to have more energy going forward.”

United made a number of signings during the off-season to bolster the squad and Maduka said it is going to take time for the players to get used to each other.

“It might take a bit of time because some of the players come from different systems and this is something that needs time. But that cannot be something that we can say is the main problem.

“The main problem is that we have so many individuals making mistakes where we they are not supposed to. It is poor decision making and we have to improve and learn to play throughout the match and not in moments.”