After the six-week Africa Cup of Nations hiatus, Kaizer Chiefs returned to domestic action. It was thought that a mini preseason would see Cavin Johnson implement his ideas and attacking patterns into the squad. Yet, two games into 2024 and the side has scored precisely zero goals. Whilst they're just five points off second place in the DStv Premiership, a Nedbank Cup exit has seen their trophy drought extended to a full nine years. This is becoming one of the darkest periods in the Soweto giants' history and in most big clubs, heads would roll at board level, in the coaching staff and amongst the playing personnel. Whilst the problems on the field are extensive, the focus of this feature is on the lack of ability to score goals. Amakhosi have spent significant cash on transfer fees over the last two years, yet they still have zero reliable goalscorers in their squad whilst their top earner and most creative player, in Keagan Dolly, is sat on the bench. Soccer Laduma look at the last two fixtures in an effort to examine the missed chances and type of opportunities being created.
Johnson's set-up
We've had two matches to see how Cavin Johnson is setting Kaizer Chiefs up. Against Royal AM and in the Nedbank Cup, it was a 4-2-3-1 shape. The coach has now discarded his attempts to use all of Edson Castillo, Yusuf Maart and Sibongiseni Mthethwa at the same time. In a recent feature, Soccer Laduma implored him to select just two of those midfielders and get four attacking players onto the pitch. For that, he deserves some credit. For the match against Thwihli Thwahla, Pule Mmodi and Christian Saile played wide, with Ashley Du Preez down the iddle and Nkosingiphile Ngcobo as a number 10. The side had 13 shots over the 97 or so minutes of play. As we have seen all season, a recurring problem without doubt, Amakhosi started the game slowly and only had five shots in the first stanza with two hitting the target. In fact, Royal AM started the match really well and by the 39th minute, they'd had several dangerous shots from distance, a few blocked attempts and Khulekani Shezi had headed wide from a corner. The big chance that had gone the Soweto giants' way came from a long Reeve Frosler punt on the counter-attack, which sent Du Preez racing clear to chip over the top of the goal. As is so often the case, he is too fast for his own teammates and ends up with no support to square the ball to! That's not to say that his one-onone finishing doesn't need some serious work.
In the 60th minute, he ran onto a Sifiso Hlanti long pass over the top and again missed a clear chance when facing Hugo Nyame. The majority of Chiefs' other threatening moments came when Christian Saile cut inside and fired off long shots. There were moments of quality in the attacking display, but they lacked ruthless finishing and simply did not get enough touches in the KwaZulu-Natal outfit's box. A big indication of that is in the stats – John Maduka's side had 19 touches in the Glamour Boys' box, but the latter only had seven possessions in the Royal AM 18-yard area. Another glaring area where they were lacking is on the dribbling front. Johnson's charges had three successful dribbles, two by Du Preez and one by Frosler. Whilst Saile worked himself a yard to shoot, he never actively eliminated an opponent with a one-versus-one action and neither did Pule Mmodi.
Milford bus again stops Chiefs
For most supporters, a home tie against Milford FC was a chance to win by a few goals. Everyone saw Mamelodi Sundowns put NB La Masia to the sword with six goals scored last Tuesday. In fact, Milford had lost 3-0 away to La Masia in mid-December and they sit above the KZN-based club in the Motsepe Foundation Championship table. They are just a point above the relegation zone in the second tier and were an ABC Motsepe League team in the 2022/23 season. Whilst La Masia had a handful of players with topflight experience or others who had come through top academies, Milford were lacking in those areas. For Amakhosi to fail to score in 120 minutes is damning on their attacking quality, cohesion and finishing. The head coach was deeply frustrated by the result, saying, "Not a good day at the office for Chiefs, we had, like, 80% possession of the ball as the other team sat back the whole game and from the first whistle for the game, we had four clear chances besides the other 15 that could have gone in. There were four clear ones and we missed a penalty."
Penalty assignment
Let's begin with that penalty. Ranga Chivaviro took a ball out of the sky with a good first touch and drew a handball offence. Firstly, this is not quite the same as cutting open the opposition and forcing them to commit a foul in their own area. There was an element of fortune to gaining that spotkick. When you looked at the players on the pitch, Maart has already scored two high-pressure penalties for Chiefs, to win a game 3-2 at Maritzburg United in the league and to win a Nedbank Cup tie at Royal AM last season. Meanwhile, Du Preez has scored two out of two penalties for the team. He stuck one past Sage Stephens in a league win and even tucked home a spot-kick past specialist penalty saver Ronwen Williams in an MTN8 match for the Soweto giants. Both players were on the pitch last Sunday and should have been the ones given the responsibility. Chivaviro is hardly high on confidence and he missed a penalty against AmaZulu FC in the 2022/23 season for Marumo Gallants. It made zero sense to hand him the high-stakes penalty against Milford FC and you can only guess that he demanded to take it. Du Preez and Maart should have been more assertive and the coach should have been much clearer on the pecking order. These small margins cost Chiefs a place in the next round potentially and this decision shouldn't be excused or glossed over.
Catalogue of chances missed
Without doubt, Amakhosi created a fair number of opportunities in their Nedbank Cup elimination. In the second minute, Du Preez missed a chance from two yards out from a good Saile cross, turning the delivery against the woodwork on the stretch. In the seventh minute, some well-timed movements down the left saw Mduduzi Shabalala tee up Happy Mashiane to cut the ball back. The left fullback's ball saw Shabalala fluff his lines and Castillo had the rebound cleared off the line. The next big opportunity came a full 40 minutes later as Castillo ghosted into the area and nearly turned home another Mashiane delivery, this time from the touchline. It was good Chiefs play with Mthethwa dropping between the centre-backs to allow Edmilson Dove to open up wide and Mashiane to be very high on the flank. In fact, Amakhosi's wide play in the match was dangerous. A switch of play to Saile saw a good cross and Du Preez have an effort well saved before Mashiane put the rebound off target. With 20-odd minutes to go, it was Du Preez with the accurate right wing cross which Mfundo Vilakazi planted straight at the goalkeeper. Based on that cup game, Chiefs looked threatening with wide deliveries, but they lacked much ability to pierce their opponents through the heart of the defence.
Ranga and Jason aren't the answer
Based on the evidence so far, neither Ranga Chivaviro nor loanee Jasond Gonzalez are ever going to score goals regularly for Chiefs. Chivaviro has been in and out of the side, sometimes not making the squad, whilst most of the Colombian's outings have lacked much goal threat. He has physicality and some potential, but the Soweto giants don't have the luxury of time. Their trophy drought and overall malaise needs readymade solutions. Added to that, Gonzalez takes up a foreign spot and gives the club less wiggle room in the transfer market. Johnson said the latter was doing well in training and is a good person, but his adaptation to a new league as a Spanish speaker has not been easy. As mentioned in the past, Chivaviro is over the age of 30 and has had just one prolific season in the topflight in his career. It says a lot that Amakhosi grabbed him ahead of Richards Bay FC because his goal record across his career doesn't scream "Chiefs-quality striker". His penalty miss could see the fans turn against him and make the next few months very difficult for the attacker Du Preez is another concern right now. His finishing has been wayward throughout his time at the club. We saw him once miss two clear one-on-one chances in a Soweto Derby against Orlando Pirates as Siyabonga Mpontshane thwarted him. The speed merchant is less effective in the wide areas but a bit too one-dimensional as a central striker. He would benefit from playing in a strike pairing and dovetailing with someone physical like Chivaviro. Maybe Johnson needs to consider using a 3-4-1-2 shape with two wingbacks and a number 10 behind two strikers. The obvious solution is to enter the transfer market in July and August. Amakhosi went out and spent big on Mthethwa when that wasn't the biggest problem area in the squad. Perhaps they should devote their funds to a top number nine and rather make do with what they have in other areas. The obvious target is Khanyisa Mayo, who won last season's Golden Boot and who again tops the scoring charts so far this term too. He would come at a big asking price but is good with both feet and in the air. Otherwise, they may need to look in smaller Eastern European or Baltic leagues to find another Samir Nurkovic type of signing.
When Knowledge was power at Naturena…
It's a damning mark of disapproval on the club's recruitment policy that the Kaizer Chiefs squads of years gone by were blessed with strikers, and so goalscoring was never really a problem. The current status quo begs answers. This much is evidenced by the fact that to this day, fans still reminisce about the exploits of Shane McGregor and Fani Madida, two frontmen who were responsible for many an opposition defender shivering in their boots. This was in the late 1980s right through to the '90s. Not to mention a sharpshooter in the mould of Marks Maponyane, who, throughout his decade- long stay at the Glamour Boys, made scoring goals look like a Sunday outing. The football gods would later, yet again, bless the club with more quality up front, this time in the form of Pollen Ndlanya and Marc Batchelor, to mention just two. These were two number nines who threw themselves about in the box, and most importantly, were all too aware that for all the flashy moves that the midfielders were adored by the fans for, theirs was simply to put the ball in the back of the net. Granted, the South African fan loves the odd shibobo or show-me-your-number, and this was provided to the Khosi Nation in abundance by stars such as Ace Ntsoelengoe, Shakes Kungwane and Scara Ngobese. All of them, sadly, are late, and even more tragic, it seems the creativity that was a fabric that held Mzansi football followed them to the grave. But story for another day. The real point is, goalscoring, despite it being an artform in itself, is the part of the game that 'seals the deal'.
A football kissing the net screams, at least in the eyes of the fan, 'that's what I came here for!' This should explain why Collins Mbesuma will always be remembered more for his spell at Amakhosi than his time at Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates, where he tried to rediscover his goalscoring magic, to no avail. In recent years, as the state of mediocrity began creeping in at the country's most-supported club, the quality of marksmen brought in has been questionable, with all due respect. None of these signings had the same impact as, say, a Knowledge Musona. Strangely enough, the Zimbabwean remains the last striker at Naturena that had that X-factor. With the likes of Ranga Chivaviro and Jasond Gonzalez huffing and puffing so far, the question remains, what is it that the Soweto giants did right in the past to find gems in the striking department? And almost a decade after he left, is there hope that they will find the next Musona anytime soon?
Super fan Masilo Machaka warns Amakhosi strikers!
"Look, now we are talking about solutions. We don't wanna talk about what happened before. So, you've got legends, especially striker legends like Mark Williams, Marks (Maponyane), Shaun Bartlett and others. Rope in those guys. Mina I believe that they are needed because we have bigger problems there up front with the likes of (Ashley) Du Preez, (Ranga) Chivaviro, (Christian) Saile and others. When they get into the final third, especially in the kitchen… if you get into the kitchen and you are rushing while you are cooking, you'll burn yourself. You are a chef but you can't cook? So, who must take that ball and put it in the back of the net? They themselves must do it. It goes back to what these guys are doing at training. Because you can't miss those sitters, you can't do that. And you can't rush while you are in the final third when all you have to do is just check your colleague and give that person the ball. Simple! It means you have a bigger problem, so if you have a bigger problem, it would be good to have a solution. So, indeed, I do agree with other supporters, (that) we have a serious concern when it comes to our strikers. Yes, we can talk about the whole team and ask whether the midfielders are giving good supply to the strikers, but the strikers sometimes find themselves in good positions. And what do they do? It's a big concern for all of us because… I don't know, man. What did we do as a team during the transfer window? We said we are fine. So, I read somewhere where the coach said no, we are fine at the moment and we will continue with the squad that we have. So, what do you do? Chivaviro is well experienced. I mean, he was playing in the Confederation Cup, scoring goals and ubemnandi (he was good), but as soon as he came to Chiefs, it was a different story.
Actually, I don't know what's happening at Chiefs because you know these strikers, when they are playing for other teams, they are good, and when they come to Chiefs, we see quality in them and think they are going to make the team better. But when they arrive, we see a different Du Preez, we see a different Chivaviro to the one who was scoring goals in the Confederation Cup. Haikhona! I know some will say the pressure gets to them, but look, when you tell your brother or your parent that you want to learn how to drive, ngena Phakathi (get in) and drive! You mustn't now say no, no, no, Cape Town and Jo'burg, I can't drive there because there are a lot of cars. What were you expecting wena? So, you can't tell me about pressure. Yes, Chiefs has got pressure, but I've said it before, when you join the team, you look at yourself and make sure you are ready to play for a team of Chiefs' calibre. You must understand that it's going to be pressure, and we must give you pressure as fans. In fact, you are giving yourself pressure by not delivering what we expect you to deliver, so what are you expecting? You must have pressure because you are playing for a big team. When you play for Chiefs, the whole world knows you, and you can even feel when you enter Naturena that you are no longer at the team you were playing for. This is home and everything is ready for you. But after a few games, you complain that the fans put pressure on you. Yes, we must put pressure on you because we need silverware at Chiefs! Even coaches mustn't talk about pressure. Actually, whoever comes to Naturena, please, I'm just warning all of them – it can be strikers, it can be defenders, it can be midfielders or even technical team – guys, you will have pressure! We are going to give you more! You must get pressure if you are not delivering. Haikhona!"
