Star-studded Baxter boys in with a shout

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - OCTOBER 23: Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter and Stars coach Allan Freese during the Kaizer Chiefs and Platinum Stars joint press conference at PSL Offices on October 23, 2014 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - OCTOBER 23: Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter and Stars coach Allan Freese during the Kaizer Chiefs and Platinum Stars joint press conference at PSL Offices on October 23, 2014 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)

Published Oct 24, 2014

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Johannesburg - Stuart Baxter takes charge of his 100th match for Kaizer Chiefs on Sunday content that he has done just what Kaizer Motaung hired him to do.

“Generally, I’m pleased with how it’s gone,” Baxter said on Thursday as he anticipated his team’s Telkom Knockout quarter-final clash with holders Platinum Stars.

“When I came in, Kaizer told me to restructure the youth sides and the mentality of the senior team. I’ve done the restructuring of the youth sides and we’ve even won something while we have created some identity for the senior side. I’m happy.”

Yet, being the driven coach he is, Baxter admits more still needs to be done.

“But I’m not 100percent pleased, so if we can win more and maybe challenge for everything else it will be a good thing.”

Having already led Amakhosi to triumph in the league championship, the Nedbank Cup as well as the MTN8, Baxter can complete a full haul of all domestic titles with success in this season’s Telkom Knockout.

To do that he must first lead Chiefs to victory over the holders at the FNB Stadium on Sunday, a feat his team have mustered three times already this season.

Given this record, Chiefs will be expected to saunter into the semi-finals - especially with Stars going through something of a bad patch that on Wednesday saw them lose their second successive match.

But Baxter is anticipating a tough clash. “It’s not going to be like Manchester United playing Barnsley in a League Cup where they can change their entire squad and still be expected to win. It will be a tight game; it won’t be an easy match.”

That his team surrendered their winning run in Wednesday’s Premiership draw with Moroka Swallows will give Stars some confidence that they can gain revenge for the three losses.

But Baxter believes that if anything, the draw could have a positive effect on his team.

“If our players’ confidence is as brittle as rice paper then they will be deflated by the draw. But based on what I know of these players, they will be more fired up to make up for the lost two points from the midweek game.”

Baxter’s counterpart at Stars, Alan Freese, knows the challenge he faces as he tries to get his team to lift their game against a side that appear to have their number.

“I gotta go out there and motivate the players. The good thing is that motivating players for a big cup game against a top team is sometimes not necessary, though.”

In the other quarter-final match, Mamelodi Sundowns play bottom of the table side AmaZulu at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Star

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