Giovanni Solinas must thank his lucky stars that Kaizer Motaung is not Chippa Mpengesi.
Were Motaung the trigger-happy Mpengesi, Solinas, who has won only one match in eight in all competitions, would be history at Kaizer Chiefs by now, considering that Mpengesi gave Daniel "Dan Dance" Malesela the proverbial heave-ho after just three matches at Chippa United.
HE'LL SOON GET IT RIGHT
Motaung cemented his place among the most tolerant of club bosses in the PSL this week when he came out guns blazing, defending Solinas's atrocious start to the season amid calls from fans for the Italian to be sacked.
While Motaung has only hired Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter and Steve Komphela in the past six years at Chiefs, Mpengesi changed coaches 16 times at Chippa.
Talking about Solinas's position this week, Motaung poured cold water on suggestions it's time he fired him.
"You've got to remember that we hired the coach two weeks before the start of the season," reasoned Motaung, adding that he still has faith in the 50-year-old mentor.
ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
The Chiefs boss is so confident of Solinas turning things around that he's restrained himself from putting time-frames on reviews of his performance despite the club experiencing its worst start in the league, in which Chiefs have drawn four and lost one match against log leaders Bidvest Wits.
After acquiring big-name players like Leonardo Castro, Khama Billiat, Siphelele Ntshangase and Lebohang Manyama, Motaung feels it's only a matter of time before they change their fortunes.
"We can't wait for too long, we need to win," admitted Motaung who insists there are signs that Solinas will eventually get things right.
TWO CRUCIAL LEAGUE MATCHES
"So far I'm still happy with what is happening except that we've had some glitches in the defensive areas."
After Motaung's plea to club supporters to back the beleaguered coach, surely Solinas has to deliver in the club's next two crucial league matches away to Cape Town City and Free State Stars before they welcome AmaZulu FC.
Having had more than a week to polish his charges during the Fifa break, Solinas will soon run out of backers and excuses. Top of the Italian's priorities should be fixing the 'glitches' that Motaung admits existed in their defence...