Chippa United change approach for 'beatable' Kaizer Chiefs

The two sides will meet at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on 29 December before a short break into the new year.

Previously, Chippa have become known to deliver their best against Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, and Mamelodi Sundowns, but Kopo wants to change that and ensure all matches are treated equally.

"Without disputing that, one of the things we're trying to get the players and management of the club to understand is that, if you look in the previous seasons, Chippa would always do well against Sundowns, Chiefs, Pirates, and don't do so well against the other teams," said Kopo.

"We need to change that because we need to beat our closest competitors – that's the mentality we've instilled in the guys that, sometimes you'll beat Chiefs, Pirates, and Sundowns, and you're still fighting relegation.

"So it's very important for us to play well and get a result against Chiefs, but it's more important for us to get results against everybody else in the league because those are our closest competitors."

But with that said, Kopo believes Chiefs are beatable, with just two points separating them on the Betway Premiership table at present, while Amakhosi have won just one of their last five matches.

"It's not an easy game, there's no easy games in the league, and Chiefs are going to come with a similar mentality to what Cape Town City did – they come on the back of a defeat to Polokwane City," he added.

"It's a big club, they are behind us on the log for the first time in many, many years, so it's going to be a tough game, we're already talking about it with the chairman [Siviwe Mpengesi] and the other guys, we're thinking possible approaches.

"But, is Chiefs beatable? I think yes, they are. Anybody in the league is beatable this season, everybody has shown that. So we just have to review our performance, do proper analysis of Chiefs, and see if we need to change anything – maybe a different approach."