Black Leopards’ leaky defence is serious cause for concern for coach Cavin Johnson ahead of Lidoda Duvha hosting Absa Premiership log leaders Kaizer Chiefs, who also happen to be the team with the most goals scored so far this season.
In contrast, Leopards have conceded the most, letting in 10 goals in their previous four games and dropping into the relegation zone.
And Johnson has had very little time to whip his charges into the shape with the congested fixture schedule giving him no opportunity for training sessions.
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“I have to trust my defenders,” said the coach, who can take some reprieve in the fact that Leopards did not have a midweek game.
But so can Amakhosi, whose forwards Samir Nurkovic (nine) and Leonardo Castro (seven) have been among the goals recently.
“Of course when you face a team that has goal scorers like Chiefs you have your work cut out. If we do the right things and study the way they play, then we can finally keep a clean sheet. If you look at the goals we have conceded, some of them are very early in the game and also quite later on. We have to be alert. Chippa played 30 seconds of football against us and won the game because their opening goal was within the first minute and their second came in the final minute of the game,” argued Johnson.
Chiefs, however, will be without their main supplier in midfielder George Maluleka, who will serve suspension and miss Saturday’s afternoon.
But that won’t stop Nurkovic and Castro from testing what is the most vulnerable back four in the league at the moment.
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