Coach Muyoti confident City Stars will rise again

• City Stars have not won in their last seven matches
• They have a new squad after most seniors left in the pre-season window
• Coach Muyoti will look to sign a striker in January

Despite being winless in their last seven matches, Nairobi City Stars head coach Nicholas Muyoti is confident the team will rise again.

City Stars have been forced to start the season with a hugely inexperienced squad after most of the senior players left in the pre-season transfer window. However, Muyoti sees some improvement and hope with his current team and believes it is just a matter of time before they get wins.

“The confidence in the team is definitely very low because failing to win in seven matches can be discouraging. If you look at our matches, we start very poorly because of this lack of confidence and then we pick in the second half,” said the tactician.

“But looking at the overall performance of the team I trust that we are on the right track. The confidence builds with time and I believe we are on that path. If we can keep working and improving, we will be okay,” said the tactician.

Meanwhile, he says he is planning on getting an experienced striker in the January window, as he currently doesn’t have strong options.

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Action between City Stars and Tusker

“Odera (Ezekiel) is quite not on form and we are struggling there and we have very little cover. We need to bring in one good striker who can help us finish the chances we create. If we solve this area, then I believe we are good to go,” added the coach.

City Stars will take on fellow strugglers Vihiga Bullets on Sunday at the Bukhungu Stadium and they will be keen to bag maximum points to lift their spirits. Vihiga, who are playing their third match of the season are also winless.

Meanwhile, AFC Leopards coach Patrick Aussems says his team needs to manage the squad better with a tough run in of fixtures in January, with seven matches expected in a span of 25 days. Already, the team has already lost their skipper Eugene Mukangula.

The midfielder is set to be out of action for at least three weeks after limping out with a hamstring injury against City Stars.

“We really need to manage the injuries we have because we have seven games in 24 days and that will be a tough run for us. We need to have some more focus on recovery and treatment,” said the tactician.

AFC Leopards hope to continue winning run

AFC Leopards players celebrate one of their three goals

Meanwhile, the team will be looking to continue in their winning ways after opening the year with a 2-1 win over City Stars on Wednesday.

“We started the year in a good way and took three points. We had a very good first half and in the second half we made the mistake of dropping too much and allowing them to use the long balls,” said the coach.

They face off with Bidco on Sunday, an expectedly tough fixture for them.

Bidco have always been a tough nut to crack for Ingwe and in the four top tier matches they have faced off against each other, Bidco has won twice and drawn one, while Leopards have won only once.

Last season, Bidco took four points off Leopards, beating them 1-0 in Thika and drawing 1-1 in Nairobi.