With three matches of evidence, perhaps now is the best time to take a look at what Molefi Ntseki is attempting to do at Kaizer Chiefs! His side has had one draw, one defeat and one late win as more than half-a-dozen new signings are being bedded in. Which formations has the former Bloemfontein Celtic assistant coach been using in his first role as the main man in South Africa's topflight? Have the Soweto giants deserved better results than they've achieved? Which new signings have impressed in these early fixtures? In this feature, Soccer Laduma takes a look at some key question marks and asks whether the Amakhosi head coach may finally have found his best XI and tactics. The Phefeni Glamour Boys had lost four of their past five meetings with Cape Town City prior to ending the hoodoo and setting up a two-legged MTN8 semi-final against Mamelodi Sundowns in early September.
A tame opening-day stalemate
The first match of the season looked relatively indistinguishable from last season. Kaizer Chiefs were in a 4-2-3-1 shape against Chippa United and although we saw Nkosingiphile Ngcobo and Mduduzi Shabalala alternating between the left wing and number 10 role at times, the style and tempo of the team's play was lacklustre. The Chilli Boys' coach, Morgan Mammila, called the Naturena-based outfit 'easy to play against' before the match and you can see why. At full-time, he felt his team could have won the game as Amakhosi only came to life in the final 10-15 minutes. A simple look at the stats will show you how little the Soweto giants created in the encounter. In the first half, they managed a paltry one shot on target. The second half didn't see much improvement with just two efforts on target. The only so-called "big chance" created fell to Shabalala and, as mentioned in previous Soccer Laduma features, his finishing and shooting is currently the least refined area of the youngster's game. The one major positive performance in the fixture was from Yusuf Maart, who completed four dribbles, hit three accurate long balls and won an impressive 10 ground duels. The one curious thing was that Christian Saile drew some ire from the fans for his performance, but Molefi Ntseki called him the team's most effective player on the day. Yet, he was dropped from the starting XI for the following match.
That late Sundowns defeat
In the second round of action, the Glamour Boys sat at 1-1 against champions Mamelodi Sundowns with 89 minutes on the clock. They were close to what would have been a welcome share of the spoils before Neo Maema's late winner. The first interesting thing about this fixture was the formation used and the personnel selected within that shape. Ntseki decided to play without a number 10 and instead he went with a flat midfield three. By that, we mean he brought Siyethemba Sithebe into the line-up and had his midfield trio spread across the pitch. Further forward, it was very much a front three of Pule Mmodi, Ranga Chivaviro and Ashley Du Preez from left to right. The front three were hardly seen dropping into deep defensive positions and instead stayed up the pitch to lead counters. This move from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 caught the Brazilians by surprise somewhat, as admitted by Rhulani Mokwena.
First half: Amakhosi had zero shots
The stats for the first 45 minutes were damning of Chiefs' negative approach. They sat deep and only really engaged Downs when the ball went into midfield. That first half saw the Tshwane giants have 74% possession and eight shots. Meanwhile, Amakhosi did not have a single shot and they made just 57 accurate passes, 34 of those in their own half. It took four blocked shots to keep the score at just 1-0. Yes, the Soweto giants were the architects of their own downfall with how Lucas Ribeiro's goal came about, but this was a completely one-sided half of football.
Second stanza: A different Chiefs
After the team-talk, Ntseki got a big reaction from his players. The visitors had 40% possession in the second half, but they managed to translate that into six shots. The biggest reason was pressing higher up and getting the midfield three closer to any knockdowns to win second balls. There was much more aggression in the team too. They won 18 out of 29 ground duels after half-time (62%) as they got in the faces of Sundowns' midfield. Another big difference came from moving Du Preez through the middle from where he scored the goal. However, it wasn't all rosy. The Chloorkop-based side missed some massive chances, not least Peter Shalulile failing to tap into an open net from two yards out or missing a clear one-on-one opportunity with the goalkeeper. Thapelo Maseko also had a great opening, which led to his coach screaming at the teenager to "score!" Maema's winner may have come from a howler, but anything less than three points for Masandawana would have been an injustice.
Cup victory – Ntseki finds his blueprint
It was third time lucky for the new coach in terms of finding the right team shape and tactics. The win against Cape Town City may have been by the narrowest of margins – equalising right after the home side missed a huge chance to go 2-0 up and then scoring deep into injury time – but tactically, we saw the best way for Ntseki to use the tools at his disposal. The key chess piece is the excellent Du Preez. So far this season, he has played on the left wing, right wing and through the middle. If we look at the Sundowns and City games, he played just over 90 combined minutes as the central striker in those two fixtures and he netted two goals. The pace, movement and relentless closing down of the former Stellenbosch FC man is maximised on the last line. Either teams defend high enough to give him space to run into, or they are forced to drop deep to protect depth passes. Most teams will be forced back by his speed and this opens space between the lines. That has a big knock-on effect for his teammates…
Narrow wingers thrive
With defenders so concerned about the space behind them, it gives room between the lines and in the halfspaces for Mmodi and Tebogo Potsane. Both players have a good mix of pace and dribbling ability, but they can also come deeper to collect and then turn in those pockets. Chiefs have upgraded in a big way with those signings even if both are around 30 already. The shape can often look like a 4-3-2-1 with the wingers slightly inside and then the number 10 able to either link with them or drop deeper to knit things together.
Chiefs finally have a real bench
There are many areas of improvement needed from the Soweto giants this season under their new coach. One of those not often highlighted or mentioned is the impact from the bench. The top teams tend to have depth to call upon as substitutes and the coaches tend to be brave in chasing results and not settling for draws. To give an idea, Sundowns had eight goals scored last season by their substitutes. Also, they used all five of their available subs in 28 of the 30 DStv Premiership matches. Mokwena was especially good at reading games and adjusting with his alternations. Chiefs? They had one goal in the league throughout all of last term from the bench. That came early in the season as Shabalala came on to score against Maritzburg United in a 3-0 win on his debut. Arthur Zwane made just 102 subs in total across 30 matches, the second-fewest in the division. Granted, he may not have had great depth, but 14 other teams made as many, or more, substitutions. Not only that, but Amakhosi's first sub was made on average in the 57th minute – the second-latest in the whole league. Meaning, 14 other sides were more ruthless in taking off players and bringing on fresh legs and implementing fresh ideas. One thing Ntseki has managed to do is to get a tune out of the players he brings on. Against the Brazilians, Potsane was introduced down the left. He beat Brian Onyango for pace and delivered the assist for Du Preez's goal.
And against Cape Town City, Saile made a big impression after his introduction by hitting the post and then assisting Edson Castillo's crucial winner. When asked in his post-match interview about the increased strength in depth, Ntseki said, "We did a squad audit and we brought about a squad balancing. We knew we'd have able players coming from the bench to win the game for us." If the Glamour Boys are starting Mmodi, Du Preez and Potsane as their front three, then they have Saile and Chivaviro as impact subs. The latter scored a league-high four goals as a substitute for Marumo Gallants last season and Saile has provided a couple of his assists for Chiefs off the bench since his arrival in January, including in Sunday's win. With the duo entering the action and Du Preez camping high up to Chivaviro's left, the side can play really direct and vertical football, hitting longer passes into channels with plenty of flick-ons and crosses. Fatigued opponents will have a tough time holding onto draws or leads in the final 15 minutes of matches. Chiefs wore down the likes of Marc van Heerden and Thamsanqa Mkhize, who collapsed from tired legs.
Fans need to understand Chivaviro's role
In the defeat to the defending champions, supporters were already getting on the back of their new striker. As the coach explained post-match, he didn't have much of a pre-season with the team, so his match fitness is still a work in progress. After playing 72 minutes in the draw against Chippa, he started against Sundowns with his freshness a bit lacking. It was probably a mistake to start him in that one and if Du Preez is kept down the middle, then Chivaviro will be the Plan B. He will enter the action as a battering ram and the supporters should be aware that his actions won't always look elegant. That does not mean he is not having an important effect in fighting for second balls and occupying centre-backs to free space down the sides for the likes of Saile to thrive. With the well-travelled striker in the box, centre-backs have their attention on him, and it opens space for runs from midfield, such as that from Castillo where he arrived unchallenged onto a cross to score.
Is the captain a concern?
One the eve of the new season, Ntseki announced that Itumeleng Khune would remain club captain with Keagan Dolly as his deputy. Realistically, Khune was never expected to play on a weekly basis and Dolly is recovering from a serious knee injury. Therefore, another player was going to wear the armband at least until the former Montpellier winger returns to full fitness. Around the squad, you have three players who regularly captained their former clubs or national teams in Given Msimango (TS Galaxy), Thatayaone Ditlhokwe (Botswana national team) and Maart (Sekhukhune United). The newly-appointed head coach instead decided on Brandon Petersen. This is despite his errors at the back-end of last season in the Nedbank Cup semi-final loss to archrivals Orlando Pirates and in the 1-0 league defeat to SuperSport United. Whilst he made at least two excellent saves against Downs, his howler in the 90th minute proved very costly to his side.
In fact, his decision to pass to Castillo for the first goal for the opposition was also a very poor one. Ntseki defended his goalkeeper and skipper after the match, but he did also inadvertently lay the blame for both goals at his feet, saying, "If you were to count how many times did he come out to save the team, it would nullify the mistakes he made that led to the goals." Notice that the coach used the plural for both 'mistakes' and 'goals'. Against the Citizens, things didn't really get much better. The goal from Van Heerden was very much saveable, and he dropped the ball near Juan Camilo Zapata, which nearly proved costly, too. Then, in the 92nd minute, he came out for a corner and was all at sea. He only got a tiny fingertip on the ball despite being unchallenged. On another day, that would have led to an equaliser and the game going to extra time. It is a concern that Ntseki may have made a rod for his own back by making his goalkeeper the captain because he now can't easily take him out of the firing line!
Castillo: So much more than a 6
When Chiefs went out and got Castillo, they brought in a player to hit the ground running. Arguably since January, they've lacked that sort of presence in midfield after Njabulo Blom was sold. The burly player has six caps for Venezuela and two of those outings came against Brazil, once in the 2021 Copa America and then in World Cup qualifying. The fact that he scored against Ecuador in that Copa America tournament shows that he is more than just a destroyer. That may be an obvious and easy thing to say when we've just seen him score the winner against City, but it's been evident in the first two encounters too. Some of Amakhosi's best chances against Chippa arrived when Castillo aggressively stepped up to press in the final third and forced errors. He has the energy to get around the pitch and not just sit in front of the back four.
In fact, we saw from his error against Sundowns that he may not be all that suited to be a 'first receiver' in the build-up phase. He is better once he is facing forward and not playing on the half-turn. Incidentally, Maart is very comfortable at starting first-phase attacks, but he lacks a bit of Castillo's steel defensively. They are a very well-suited pairing because they have compatible skill-sets. The South American was actually at fault for the late City chance where the crossbar was struck. He was not screening Thato Mokeke's pass effectively nor blocking the passing lane into Jo Paciencia's feet. Ntseki admitted that Amakhosi were figuring out how to extract the best out of the new signing, saying, "Castillo is a quality player who has shown great understanding and intelligence both with and without the ball, and we are working out how best to use him going forward, as well as defensively."
Fluid midfield rotation
In the Chippa match, Castillo got forward a fair amount of times and against Downs, he was tasked with being the central of the three midfielders. Against City, we saw the potential Ntseki plan in the engine room. All of Maart, Mdantsane and Castillo were seen as the deepest and the most advanced midfielder at different stages. There was a real freedom and fluidity to the positions they were allowed to take up when the Soweto giants had the ball. For opponents, it is not easy to press or man-mark Chiefs' midfield because we can see Mdantsane moving out to the right flank – from where he assisted Du Preez's goal at Athlone Stadium – or we can see Castillo in the box waiting for a cross, like he did for the match-winning goal. Maart is capable of receiving between his centre-backs or even running beyond the striker as we saw for his goal against Bucs in the Nedbank Cup semi-final last season. Whilst this will be good to watch and lead to some nice interplay when Potsane or Mmodi drop to receive the ball, it can mean that Chiefs are a bit open or unstructured on transitions. Ntseki needs to find a balance between the rigid shape of the midfield against Sundowns and the ultra-liquid positional freedom seen against Eric Tinkler's men.
How the new centre-backs are settling
For any club to go out and sign a new centre-back pairing is a risk. This is because it takes time to build an understanding with each other, with the goalkeeper, the fullbacks etc. A perfect case in point was seen with the Glamour Boys last season where Zitha Kwinika and Edmilson Dove were brought in. We saw lots of teething errors from the duo and the club lost patience with them quite quickly. Most supporters saw from the televised pre-season friendlies already that Msimango was going to fit like a glove. He is calm, mobile and very good on the ball. Reeve Frosler has looked stronger defensively with Msimango to his left, despite being left pretty exposed against both Thapelo Maseko and Darwin Gonzalez.
As for Ditlhokwe, Chiefs have signed an excellent pure defender. Not many centre-halves around the PSL are as good at blocking shots or clearing high balls. We've seen that in abundance already in the two DStv Premiership fixtures. Ditlhokwe blocked two shots against Downs in his own box and another against Chippa. However, we've also seen how much work the Botswana captain has to do when he is on the ball. Crosses into the area are usually cleared as far as possible. A ball-playing defender has to be able to take the ball down calmly or cushion it to his midfielders to retain possession. After playing under Kaitano Tembo and Gavin Hunt in recent seasons, it hasn't prepared the former SuperSport United star for a team that wants to play out from the back. City aren't the first and won't be the last team to try to funnel Amakhosi's play towards the left side knowing that the defender can give the ball away cheaply in his own half.
Summary: Some hits, some misses
We are only three matches into the new season, so the sample size of action to analyse the new-look Chiefs is still very small. Mokwena described the Naturena-based outfit as very conservative and reactive prior to facing them, saying they tend to sit back early in games and see what the opponents are doing. That was certainly the case in a very poor first 45 minutes at Lucas Moripe Stadium. We can almost divide the three fixtures into two parts: the first 1.5 halves of football were dull and negative, whilst the last 1.5 halves have been positive, attacking and promising. We've seen some moments of real bravery, such as having seven men inside the box for corners at times, leaving a front three up the pitch or (misguidedly) playing high-risk passes from the goalkeeper on a poor Lucas Moripe Stadium playing surface. What the coach needs to find is some consistency in approach, profiling his players correctly – Du Preez is best as a striker and Saile is best as a right winger winger- and also consistency from individuals. Maart, for example, was highly influential against Chippa but almost invisible against Sundowns, where he made fewer passes in the match than Ronwen Williams. The Soweto giants' next two opponents are TS Galaxy and AmaZulu FC. Both sides have kept two clean sheets in two matches this term and won't be easy to break down. If we see a conservative approach, then it's quite possible that Chiefs won't score in those fixtures. Now is the time to become the attacking, exciting Kaizer Chiefs that supporters have demanded for the last decade or more!
