Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has explained why Khama Billiat had to be substituted just minutes after coming on.
Billiat made the Amakhosi squad for the first time in 2023 after his long injury struggles and fans were excited to see him back on the pitch, when Ashley du Preez had to be stretchered off after 42 minutes.
However, Billiat’s cameo in the 1-0 defeat to Cape Town City only lasted a few minutes before he had to be taken off again at half-time.
Zwane admitted that Billiat wasn’t really 100% fit and he wouldn’t have risked him had not various other players been unavailable but his side needed a player of his quality after Du Preez went off.
“It is sad when you see a quality player like Khama suffering from injuries,” he added.
“He was actually supposed to come back two weeks back. We anticipated that he should be ready just before the [Nedbank Cup] semi-finals, and we wanted to build him up.
“To be quite honest, even today, if we had all the other players available, we wouldn’t have risked Khama. The plan also was to play him 20 minutes and then build him up going forward.
“Unfortunately, we found ourselves in a situation where we didn’t have a striker when we lost Ash, and we needed a player of his [Billiat’s] quality.
“I even said to him, ‘listen I don’ no’t want you to make too many runs because now we are trying to build you. We need your quality in holding the ball and connecting with whoever that is coming and then creating space’.
“We didn’t expect him to be explosive as we know him. It only took him 15 minutes or less on the field, and actually when I saw him limping, I said ‘here we go again’.”
Chiefs are now expected to once again revamp the club, with iDiski Times understanding that Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana has been told he can leave, while they have identified Young Africans striker Fiston Mayele as one of their targets.
