Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane admits they were bullied in midfield and singled out Andile Jali for his display in the 4-0 thumping.
Chiefs were humbled at Loftus Versveld on Saturday afternoon with Gaston Sirino and Abubeker Nassir scoring goals on either side of a Peter Shalulile brace.
And Zwane did not hide from the fact that they were beaten by the better side who boast more quality in their squad at the moment as they continue to build on their incredible success over the last decade.
“There’s no point for us to complain, we have to work. We’ll go in and do introspection and look at ourselves, where we can improve individually and collectively as a team and we’ll get it right, do corrections. This is a game of mistakes and you can only learn from them,” Zwane said in the post-match press conference.
“So building up to this game, we’re playing against a team that’s got so much quality and has been together for so much time, [along] with their way style of play, it’s an advantage, you can see, they’re bullies in the midfield, they have players very comfortable on the ball.
“We had to try and match them pound for pound. To say to the players, this team is top gents, we have to sit, there was no way we were going to sit.
“If we’re going to sit, we’d be inviting trouble and get tired. You could see in the middle we were already tired, Yusuf [Maart] was flat [Siyathemba] Sithebe, Cole [Alexander] was flat and I don’t blame them. Maybe it’s because of the game on Tuesday they gave their all and coming into this game, they were mentally still tired.”
With Chiefs opting not to sign a traditional defensive midfielder in the mould of your Tinashe Nengomashe’s or Willard Katsande, there have been suggestions they might be lacking steel but Zwane feels their current options within the team can adequately fulfil the role.
However, he feels Jali was just a cut above his players, as he showed the arrogance to dominate the game and make Masandawana tick.
“I kept on saying we don’t want to play with fear, we want to be fearless, you look at the difference in their team, why they didn’t give the ball away is because Jali, who always starts the play as that little bit of arrogance [on the ball], Yusuf has that but Yusuf was not himself, he was flat,” Zwane said.
“We looked much better when we moved Njabulo [Blom] into the middle because Cole [Alexander] was a little bit flat. We do have number sixes, but it’s a case of us now working with them, making them understand what we expect, their roles and responsibility [in the team].”
Chiefs return to action in the DStv Premiership on Saturday when they face Richards Bay at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
