Kaizer Chiefs coach explains rejuvenation of Ashley Du Preez

Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has explained Ashley Du Preez’s rejuvenation following his recent exploits for Amakhosi.

At one point, Du Preez’s naysayers had a field day as he got off to a turbulent start to life at Naturena.

The former Stellenbosch FC star missed a series of clear-cut chances in front of goal, drawing plenty of criticism.

To cap it all off, Du Preez dropped down the pecking order at the club and also lost his place in the Bafana Bafana team.

However, the 25-year-old is slowly rediscovering the form he produced at Stellenbsosch as he is now firing in the goals again.

With his high work rate and the backing of coach Zwane, the highly-rated attacker is becoming a fan favourite.

ARTHUR ZWANE ON ASHLEY DU PREEZ’S FORM

“Ashley, as an individual, he comes from a team [Stellenbosch] that was playing mostly in transition and with us, it’s not only transition,” said Zwane.

“We want to build up from the back and want combinations in the middle of the park and to unlock the oppositions when they form a deep block.

“We are trying to help him [Du Preez] to be able to deal with different situations, and from the beginning of the season, he has contributed to a lot of goals that we have scored and also scored.

“He’s also been a difficult player to deal with whenever he is available and fit. And unfortunately, injuries did not help him and the club well. We’ve lost him when we needed him most in some of the games that were very important for us to have him on the field.

“And that also destabilised the team a bit because now we have to change the dimension in our attacking third,” added the Amakhosi coach.

Du Preez hasn’t lived up to expectations, but Zwane is confident that his current star player will fire on all cylinders soon.

DU PREEZ’S STATISTICS AT CHIEFS

He has a return of eight goals and five assists in 25 matches across all competitions.

The Western Cape-born star is two goals shy of his minimum target of netting 10 goals in his debut season at Chiefs.

“Ashley has played a very huge role, and he has improved according to me, and he is a different player compared to when he was playing for Stellenbosch,” declared Zwane.

“Why I’m saying that? This season, whenever available, he played nearly all the games for 90 minutes and at Stellenbosch, he played 27 games plus, and he was substituted in nearly 95% of the games that he played for them.

“We’re trying by all means to help not only Ash [Du Preez] but everyone to settle in.

“Remember he was playing [at Stellies], and whenever he’d score a goal, maybe not too many people were making noise about him scoring a goal but here at Kaizer Chiefs, whenever he scores a goal, people will give him praise, and he’s expected to score more goals.

“That obviously goes to his head not in a negative way but as a form of pressure that he needs to score again. He’s done well so far, and he’ll keep doing well because he is a level-headed boy. He is focused and disciplined.

“I see him prospering and becoming one of the best players you know in the team and for the country in the future.”

Du Preez will hope to add to his tally when Chiefs tackle Royal AM in the Nedbank Cup quarterfinals on Sunday, 16 April 2023.

RELATED STORY: Ashley Du Preez: ‘I’m not happy at the moment’