Johannesburg - Kaizer Chiefs’ coach Arthur Zwane continued to defend his players after another costly blunder on Saturday night, insisting “they’ll get it right”.
Chiefs’ lost ground in their bid to play in Champions League football next season after drawing 1-1 with Marumo Gallants at home, at FNB Stadium, on Saturday to remain fourth on the log with 41 points.
They led via Ashley Du Preez’s well-taken solo goal inside the first 10 minutes before a costly slip from Edmilson Dove allowed Ranga Chivaviro to equalise and earn a vital point for Gallants.
That draw meant that Chiefs fell behind in the race for the second spot with two points, behind both SuperSport United and Orlando Pirates who won their respective matches during the Easter weekend.
To the technical team’s concern, Chiefs have dropped most points and lost most games due to such – individual - mistakes since the start of the season.
“It does worry us as a technical team because if you look at how we conceded goals (it's mostly individual mistakes). Actually, 70%, if not 75 or 80% this season, were like this," Zwane said in his post-match press conference.
“If it was 20%, I would give it to oppositions and say they unlocked us, they were superior in certain areas of the field, they created opportunities and punished us. But when you look at this, we’ve been talking about it from the beginning of the season.”
Zwane though is a player’s coach. He’s not throwing his players under the bus as he hopes that the technical team can still help the players to get things right.
“We’re conceding silly goals, we’re making mistakes that are very costly, we’ve conceded a lot of unnecessary goals. So as a coach what do you do? Do you give up on your players? I can’t give up,” Zwane said.
“I’m going to have to keep on working on this, change their mindset, change their mentality and make sure we keep moving and get it right.”
@Mihlalibaleka
IOL Sport