After last Saturday's weak surrender to lose at home to Cape Town City, Kaizer Chiefs have finished fifth on the DStv Premiership table. Two weeks ago, Arthur Zwane was calling this a good season, but he quickly changed his tune at full-time, admitting it has been a bad campaign. We looked last week at how he is criticising players in the press and rarely taking personal responsibility for any of the failings within the squad. He was backed to the tune of R20 million in the last transfer window, but his side have taken fewer points than in 2021/22. There are many reasons for this, but the inexperienced coach highlighted his defence as the main reason. With two new central defenders set to arrive in the off-season, will things improve? We know that Austin Dube and Erick Mathoho are set to depart the club, but which of the other four centre-backs will be moved aside to make space for the arrivals of Given Msimango and Thatayaone Ditlhokwe? They say that strikers win you matches, but defenders win you leagues. If that's true, then the Glamour Boys are a long way off. They conceded as many goals as AmaZulu FC and Swallows FC, both of whom were in a relegation battle with about five matches left in the season! Teams like Richards Bay FC and TS Galaxy conceded fewer goals than the Soweto giants too. In this feature, Soccer Laduma examines Zwane's comments for what they are!
How Much Improvement Is Needed
We know that Stuart Baxter's Kaizer Chiefs side only leaked 14 goals back in the 2014/15 season, the last time the club won the title… or any silverware at all for that matter. That team wasn't overly enterprising though and only scored 41 goals. To defend in numbers is not what the fans want to see, so the 14-goal benchmark would be an unfair one for next season. If we look at the goals conceded by the side and the title winners since then, we can see that the Soweto giants have largely been miles worse in this department. However, there were seasons where they even conceded less than the champions but the goalscoring department completely failed. Therefore, what's clear is that Goal Difference provides a good indicator too. Amakhosi leaked 33 goals this season and only scored 32 – a negative goal difference! To give an example, in the 2017/18 season, the Naturena-based outfit only leaked 22 goals to the 24 conceded by Mamelodi Sundowns, but Chiefs scored a paltry 27 goals. They conceded just 29 goals in the season where they finished ninth, but again, 33 goals scored was just miles off. The last time they got close to the title, Ernst Middendorp's side conceded 27 times but scored on 48 occasions on the way to a 57-point season. They actually had the same goal difference as Downs that season. And last year, Baxter was mostly in charge of a side that only conceded 26 times, but it again came at the cost of poor scoring numbers, just 34 goals netted. The fact is that Arthur Zwane can blame the defence and it has some merit, but he should look at the WHY and not just the WHAT. Many coaches understand that defending is a team function and individual mistakes are usually the result of a backline that is overly exposed by the structure of the team or by midfielders and attackers who are not tracking back enough.
Zwane Throws his Defence Under The Bus!
After the loss to Cape Town City, a match where Zwane's side barely created any chances going forward against 10 men, the coach slammed his entire defensive unit. The 49-year-old name-dropped several of his defenders and placed the blame for the goals conceded record squarely at their feet. He told the media, "Unfortunately, you look at the goals that we conceded this season, the entire defence let us down, hence we started changing." The first ones who got mentioned were Zitha Kwinika and Edmilson Dove, with the coach reiterating that the latter is not a natural centre-back, despite playing him solely in that position all season. He also bemoaned Kwinika's displays as a left centre-back, saying, "We had to change Zitha for Edmilson Dove at centre-back. Dove is a left back, but because we wanted that balance of playing and someone who could help with the organisation… At some point, we were one-dimensional from the back with Zitha because he's a right footed player. So, that gave our opponents a chance to channel us in one direction and trap us there. That's how we actually conceded some of the goals early in the season. When we thought we got better when we got Dove while we were looking for a left centre-back, but we couldn't get one at that time, we had to say let's come up with a plan and move Dove to the left centre-back because he got the qualities as well. For the national team he plays as a centre-back." The next in the firing line was Sifiso Hlanti, who came back from a serious Achilles injury and started 23 of the 25 league matches after his return, only missing the other two due to suspension. Zwane flagged his age as a factor in Chiefs being exploited down that flank by many opponents. He revealed, "We also depended on the experience of Hlanti. However, you could also see with the performance of Hlanti that the pressure was too much because of the age. He needed someone to help him sometimes. Unfortunately, we relied on him too much because of his experience, and at some point, we were badly exposed because of that." Again, there may be some merit to the sentiment that Hlanti was exploited towards the end of the season. We saw him make two bad mistakes in the Golden Arrows defeat, including being skinned down the flank by a dribble. He was also pulled out for a Neo Maema goal against Sundowns. Although Zwane didn't go through his defenders one-by-one, he has voted with his team sheet this season. Siyabonga Ngezana had a run of just two starts in 12 league matches at one point and Njabulo Ngcobo went 19 DStv Premiership clashes without a start too. Although they finished the season playing regularly, it can hardly be clear whether Zwane sees them as part of his regular plans next season.
Has Kwinika Flopped?
When Amakhosi spent a reported R3 million to bring Kwinika back to the club in the off-season, it was generally received well. Stellenbosch FC had just finished fourth in the standings with the third-best defensive record in the league. He had moved to a central defensive role at the Winelands club and had even captained the side on occasion, excelling in the heart of a back four or a back three. Zwane spoke about the fact that he had worked with the player in the U17s, U19s and the reserves at Amakhosi. Stellies assistant coach, Wesley Sergel, told Soccer Laduma about his abilities at playing out from the back and defending one-versus-one situations. Things haven't quite worked out for the player and his coach has clearly lost faith in his signing. In the first 23 league matches, Kwinika started 20 of those. However, he started none of the final seven matches and was also dropped for the Royal AM and Orlando Pirates ties in the Nedbank Cup. Njabulo Ngcobo has had some starts during that run, meaning Kwinika is effectively fourth choice at best. Going into next season, he could be behind all of Thatayaone Ditlhokwe, Given Msimango, Ngezana and Dove in the pecking order. As a fifth choice, it would take an injury crisis for him to even feature. In reality, he could become next season's version of Austin Dube and Erick Mathoho! At this stage, it's hard to see how Chiefs could either get value for the money invested or recoup any significant percentage of the fee by selling their academy product. The question is whether his treatment has been fair. Zwane's comments after the Cape Town City game focused a lot on Kwinika's struggles playing as a left centre-back when he is right-footed, even saying it directly caused some goals conceded. Kwinika played eight matches at the start of the season in that role before Dove's debut against SuperSport United. Sure, his pass against Sundowns put Ngezana in trouble, but it had more to do with not passing to Bruce Bvuma than being right-footed. Yes, a left footed centre-back would have opened up and found the left back. Granted, there have been quite a few individual howlers by Kwinika if you think back to the missed interception early season against Marumo Gallants and something similar in the defeat to Sekhukhune United. However, he did well at right back in the Soweto Derby win in February and he is far from the only defender to make howlers this season – they've been constant from Dove, Ngezana and Ngcobo too.
What Are The Trends?
If we look at how the goals are conceded, without going into forensic detail, there are many issues. Firstly, Chiefs concede too many set-pieces. We saw this from the first match of the season as a second-minute Royal AM goal led to a loss. And we saw a long throw lead to the deciding goal this past Saturday. It's an issue that has plagued them all season. We've seen AmaZulu FC thrash Amakhosi with two set-play goals in a 4-0 defeat. The Citizens ended a poor run by scoring a set-piece early season against the Soweto giants and there have been near-post headers from both Maritzburg United and Royal AM of late from corners. Crucially, the side lost in extra time in the Nedbank Cup to a Pirates set-piece goal and the Swallows FC defeat before that also saw a goal from a freekick into the box. Aside from that, there have been loads of goals where defenders were caught on the ball. It happened to Ngezana and Ngcobo earlier in the season and to Dove on a couple of occasions too. There were a number of long passes that Amakhosi failed to cut out if you think of Ngcobo's error against the Birds and Kwinika earlier in the season. Cut-backs have also been a major source of joy for opponents, who can get down the Chiefs left side with ease, probably because of how isolated Hlanti has been left by Zwane's tactics. Early in the season, there were loads of goals from right half-space crosses to the back post where the various right backs were out of position. It may not get much mention, but the right side is just as much of a concern as the left flank.
Will Ditlhokwe And Msimango Solve All Problems?
On the 19th of January, the club announced the signing of Ditlhokwe and on the 25th of March, news broke that a deal was agreed for Msimango. Firstly, it is always good to get business done early and decisively. However, it's a bit unwise to announce those deals so far in advance. It sent a bad message to the current crop of defenders that their days were numbered. Leaving that aside, Chiefs have certainly made two good signings. Ditlhokwe is the captain of the Botswana national team and Msimango has skippered TS Galaxy, whilst also doing well as a right-footer playing as a left centre-back under Sead Ramovic. Ditlhokwe is left-footed and will immediately challenge Dove for his spot. The latter could move to left back, but his athleticism after his serious knee injury is questionable perhaps. The SuperSport United man is also a no-nonsense, aggressive marker and isn't overly comfortable with intricate build-up play. Msimango is strong on the ball and athletic, and you'd imagine this duo will start next season as the first-choice pairing. That looked a well-suited partnership and well balanced, but don't be fooled into thinking that they won't also have issues if they're left exposed… Chiefs still need to solve their goalkeeping issue, their fullback question marks and to find a replacement for Njabulo Blom in the defensive midfield role.
