Johnson Got His Tactics Wrong Against Pirates?

It is perhaps indicative that the midfield combination of Mthethwa, Maart and Castillo limits them offensively, as Amakhosi created far better chances against Spurs and scored three goals, in their 3-2 victory, without Mthethwa, who was suspended against the Urban Warriors.

The last time Chiefs scored three goals was against AmaZulu in a 3-0 victory in August before the signing of Mthethwa.

Against Pirates in the derby, the Glamour Boys had a lot of possession in front of the Buccaneers but could not create chances, especially in the first stanza and only started threatening in the second stanza after they changed their formation and utilized Christian Saile and Mduduzi Shabalala as wingers.

Former Chiefs and SuperSport United attacker Thuso Phala believes Maart and Mthethwa are too similar and should not be playing together at the same time.

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"Chiefs played with no wingers in the first-half, you saw the difference when you have Saile and Shabalala, then there's that outlet to start an attack," Phala said on TK Solutions TV YouTube Channel.

"In the first-half, Chiefs' outlet was to play Maart or Mthethwa, which left the striker (Ranga Chivaviro) isolated upfront. Every time they retained the ball there was no penetrative pass, because there was no one going forward, it's a striker alone.

"For me Mthethwa and Maart they are the same kind of midfielders, one of them must play. I don't think both of them need to play, put one midfielder there, either Mthethwa or Maart, you have Castillo in front of him, then (Nkosingiphile) Ngcobo will be more effective. Now you have four square players, they are not players who make the run behind the defenders, that third man runner, they are not that kind of midfielders," he said.

Interestingly, Chiefs are yet to win a game with Mthethwa starting since he was signed as a late arrival from Stellenbosch in September.