DSTV Prem Weekend Review – Winners And Losers By OptaJabu

A new Bet Central feature in the 2021/22 season will be a Statistical Winners & Losers section, highlighting some of the weekend’s highs and lows from a statistical standpoint. We continue with this weekend’s action of the DSTV Premiership that was.

Mamelodi Sundowns – Winner

For a second successive week, Sundowns have provided an emphatic answer to questions about unity within their camp. What was said behind the scene, to who and by who becomes irrelevant when you do most of your talking on the field. And the defending champions are doing just that. Including the end of last season, Sundowns have now kept seven consecutive league clean sheets, equalling their club record in the PSL era (seven in a row between September & November in 2006/7).

4 – This is the first time in their history they have opened a PSL season with four consecutive clean sheets in the league, becoming only the 4th top-flight side to do so (also Wits 03/04, Wits 08/09, Pirates 2009/10).

Orlando Pirates – Winner

With 11 wins in a row against Chippa, the expectation going into this one was for another Pirates victory. Yet, with Gavin Hunt in the opposing dugout, a man responsible for 20 previous past defeats, a Pirates defeat was a possibility. When they scored the first goal, a Pirates defeat looked like a probability. But, there is a stubbornness to give up about this Pirates team that makes them exciting. Under Josef Zinnbauer, Pirates conceded the first goal in nine away league matches, and only won one – his very last away game at the club. 

4 – Pirates have won 4 points from losing positions this season, more than any other side.

John Maduka – Winner

What better way to celebrate your 50th game in charge than a resounding away victory over one of the biggest clubs in the land. The tendency for a lot of new and newly promoted clubs is to go into big away matches with the mindset that a point will be enough. Not for Maduka. The winning results were elusive in his two Cup final defeats to Sundowns & Pirates, but both were narrow. The feeling remains that this is a man who knows how to engineer the performances that the big occasions warrant. On Sunday, he was rewarded for his bravery.

3 – Royal AM became only the third PSL side to score four goals in an away league game at Chiefs, but the first to score 4 and also win by 3+ goals away to Chiefs.

Evidence Makgopa – Winner

Yet, another goal for the 21-year-old. Many wondered why he didn’t choose “greener pastures” in the transfer window. Two answers: games and records. 1. He will see more game time at a club like Baroka while honing his huge talent. 2. He’s already Baroka’s leading all-time scorer, and every goal he scored extends that.

good weekend for some Bafana players in the #dstvprem – Tebogo Mokoena, Evidence Makgopa and Victor Letsoalo all hit the back of the net.

— Morena (@Mothupiii) September 19, 2021

Steve Barker – Winner

The last nine games of last season produced no open play goals for Stellies. Four games into the new one, they are the league’s top scorers. Something has changed and we’ll put our finger on it as the data rolls in, but for now Coach Barker’s words could give us a hint.

“We are now able to mix things up and change our game plan that is suited for the opposition.”

It worked to perfection on Saturday, as he subbed on Moseamedi to wrap up the win with a brace. Barker beat Tinkler for the first time at the fifth time of asking, and mixing things up even sounds like a luxury at this point.

4 – Stellies have opened the scoring in every game they have played this season

Supersport United – Winners

14 – Supersport won an away game for the first time in 14 attempts, ending what had been their longest winless run away from home in the PSL era. This was not just a monkey off Kaitano Tembo’s back, but a massive gorilla.

Brave Punters – Winners

There were Over 2.5 goals in just six of the opening 23 matches this season. And then suddenly Over 2.5 goals in five of the six matches this weekend.

The New Guard – Winners

Back in 1999, Mandla Ncikazi (at African Wanderers) and Fadlu Davids (at Mother City) played against Gavin Hunt (at Hellenic) in his first full season at a PSL club. They are both coaches now, and together oversaw Hunt’s biggest defeat in his new job at Chippa. Overall, it was a weekend where the next generation of coaches shone – the two Pirates coaches, Rhulani Mokwena, John Maduka, Kaitano Tembo and even Benni McCarthy (in CAF).

The Old Guard – Losers

The recruitment of Gavin Hunt was supposed to be a simple problem-solving exercise. A man with experience in winning titles joins a side that desperately needed to win them. The recruitment of Stuart Baxter was even more specific. of A man who’d won titles FOR CHIEFS joining a Chiefs side desperate for titles. The first did not end well and only five games in, the second has not shown early signs of promise.

Stuart Baxter – Loser

If he chooses not to start Ngcobo, he is damned. If he chooses to start Ngcobo and his team concede four goals, he is also damned. The focus on Ngcobo’s absence/presence may threaten to hide other issues with Baxter’s team – to us it seems like this is a structural problem, not an individual one.

7 – Seven goals in the opening four league games is the joint-worst defensive start in PSL history for Chiefs, and the first time this has happened in 13 years (7 goals in 4 during the 1997/98 and 2008/9 seasons).

Eric Tinkler – Losers

A 3-0 hammering in a local derby is already bad enough, so we won’t rub salt in that wound. Cape Town City’s old defensive issues were excusable in the past because we knew they made up for that going forward. That they are both leaking goals (1 clean sheet in 5 league games under Tinkler) and shy in front of goal (6 league matches without a goal in eight) adds extra urgency for the Citizens to fix their problems, with the MTN8 semi-final imminent.