Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has made a case on what derailed their season the most after they finished their campaign in a disappointing fifth in the DStv Premiership standings.
Chiefs' 1-0 defeat to Cape Town City in their final game of the season over their weekend was their fourth consecutive loss in all competitions.
Chiefs were inconsistent the whole season, where they only managed to win at least five games in a row in the second round of the campaign.
Zwane has attributed their inconsistency, including in knockout competitions, to the amount of injuries they have had this season.
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In the early stages of the campaign, Chiefs had to do without the likes of Ashley Du Preez while Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana also missed some action leading up to the FIFA World Cup break.
After the FIFA World Cup break, Chiefs lost Khama Billiat and Nkosingiphile Ngcobo due to long-term injuries (Billiat only returned in the last game of the season and broke down again).
And as the season progressed, Reeve Frosler and Dillan Solomons were ruled out for multiple weeks and after they returned in the closing stages, they also lost Keagan Dolly, who could not complete the season.
Zwane says they wished to play at least seven games with the same team to build the understanding but players kept on getting injured.
"We would play two or three games, do well and look like what we're trying to do is getting better and improving and then from there you lose two players again and you have to reshuffle the squad," Zwane said in a press conference.
"At some point we played with a makeshift defence because we had lost all the full-backs. So that alone tells you that it has been a difficult season.
"And hence the results were inconsistent. We just hoped and wished that at some point at least play more than seven games with one team, where it can be clear what is that we want to achieve and also bring in other players, those who are new to the setup," he said.
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The Amakhosi legend went on and said their plan was to build the team around a core of experienced and quality players but they never had them together during the season.
"You lose Ash (Ashley Du Preez), you would recall at some stage Ash was out when we needed him in the very important games, Khama and most of the senior players were not available due to injuries," he went on.
"It has been a story of our season where we couldn't have a consistent line-up. As much as we wanted to build the team around a certain core of individuals, we couldn't because those experienced, quality players were not available," he added.
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