Black Leopards have some valuable intel on Kaizer Chiefs

The presence of a former Kaizer Chiefs coach in the Black Leopards dugout on Saturday could prove valuable for the Limpopo-based outfit, who battle it out with the Soweto giants in search of their first win of the season.

Lidoda Duvha began their campaign with a home defeat to Polokwane City, and now travel to Durban to meet Amakhosi at Moses Mabhida Stadium.

They have, in their ranks, a man who has been involved with their opponents for close to two decades – both as player and coach.

Black Leopards bank on Mabedi’s insider knowledge

Former Malawi defender Patrick Mabedi spent years playing for Kaizer Chiefs, captaining the side, before joining its coaching staff.

He served as Steve Komphela’s assistance before taking over from the former Bafana skipper on a caretaker basis towards the end of the 2017/18 campaign.

He returned to his assistant coach role with the arrival of Italian tactician Giovanni Solinas, but was let go along with him when current Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp took over the reins in December.

Ahead of the start of the new season, Mabedi was recruited by Black Leopards, and one of his new charges is confident his knowledge of his former club will benefit the Limpopo outfit.

“We already know how Kaizer Chiefs play, and we always do well against Kaizer Chiefs. And also playing against Kaizer Chiefs is a motivation in itself,” goalkeeper King Ndlovu is quoted by KickOff.

“It doesn’t matter which players they have, football is about eleven versus eleven, we don’t care who is on the other side you see. Us, we worry about ourselves and how we will perform. We are more worried about ourselves.

“Obviously Kaizer Chiefs will be more motivated as they will have the crowd on their back, and we will be under a little bit of pressure just because we lost the first game. Yes we haven’t started well but we still have time to rectify our mistake.
 
“Obviously Mabedi is there you see, so he’s got all the insides from there that we need and that is a plus for us. He knows how they play, he knows their weaknesses. He gave us all the tips.”

The match will be the third encounter between the two sides since Black Leopards made a return to the top flight.

In the previous campaign, Kaizer Chiefs took four points against the visitors, beating them before playing to a stalemate towards the end of the season.

Kick-off on Saturday is at 20:15.