Johannesburg - Kaizer Chiefs striker Bernard Parker has called for more mental toughness amongst his teammates as they continue their pursu...
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Johannesburg - Kaizer Chiefs striker Bernard Parker has called for more mental toughness amongst his teammates as they continue their pursuit of silverware this season.
Amakhosi are still on course to end their trophy drought which has spanned almost three years, since they last lifted the Absa Premiership title under current Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter.With Steve Komphela’s tenure having brought no tangible success for the club over the past two years and 10 months, pressure is mounting on the coach as well as the players, who realistically only have the Nedbank Cup to contest for.
Their league title hopes have dwindled in recent weeks, after dropping points against Bloemfontein Celtic and arch-rivals Orlando Pirates, and they now find themselves all the way down in fifth position with seven games to go.
Parker, who has won two league championships, a MTN 8 and Nedbank Cup crown since arriving at Naturena in 2011, has since urged his teammates to give the coach a fitting send off by delivering a career-first trophy before the expiry of his contract in June this year.
Kaizer Chiefs Trophy Drought Continues |
“We’re well aware that this is the third year, and the last couple of months for our coach. Since he’s been here he hasn’t gotten anything,” said Parker. “This is our chance to get a trophy for the club, firstly, and for the coach and his career as well.”
Having failed to do so despite the many promises in the last two and a half seasons, the 31-year-old forward insists there is no shortage of quality in the side but rather a mental block is what has caused their shortfalls.
“I think us putting so much pressure on ourselves knocks us a little bit with inconsistency, because we win two or three games and think, ‘oh, we’re back on it, we’ve got our form’ and then in the next game we suffer and don’t get the required result,” he admitted.
“So, I think it’s more mental. It’s not that we don’t have enough quality players, we’ve got too much quality here in this team, but it’s just about how we complement one another.
“By keeping it simple … We’ve played games where we kept it simple already and the quality eventually showed and we got the result.”
Parker has since stressed that the players’ full concentration should now be on the present, as they look to secure a trophy in the final few weeks of the campaign.
“Teams that don’t have as much quality as what we have, have won cups. I’m talking about in this three-year period of time. They’ve won a cup here and there so we definitely owe the club some silverware, and ourselves as well, because we’re also here to win trophies.
“This is, for all of us at Kaizer Chiefs as players, the most important time of our lives, where we need to put all our focus and energy, and if we do that I think we will get silverware,” concluded the Bafana international. - KickOff
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