Ntseki Offers Gonzalez Assessment And Explains Kwinika Decision

Kaizer Chiefs head coach Molefi Ntseki says it’s a work in progress with new signing Jassond Gonzales while offering insight into fielding Zitha Kwinika over Reeve Frosler.

The new Colombian striker was named on the bench in the first leg 1-1 semi-final MTN8 draw against Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday and made his debut in the second half.

While there wasn’t much to write home about, the Amakhosi coach says his arrival after pre-season will see him take a bit more time to settle than their new Venezuelan midfielder Edson Castillo, who found his third goal of the season at FNB Stadium.

“For Gonzales, the same thing as Edson [Castillo], we’re still working very hard for him to understand the league, to understand the opponents and also to understand our tactical approach,” Ntseki said about the new signing.

“It becomes very difficult when have a player with no pre-season and then asked to hit the ground running, and there’s no ground to hit. It’s important for us to create that ground and make him understand his qualities and that of his teammates.”

Nteski also touched on the benching of Frolser, who’s been touted for a Bafana Bafana recall of late due to some impressive early season form with the Soweto giants, but he stated it was for the chase of continuity after back-to-back clean sheets in the league.

“Since Zitha came in for Reeve, we didn’t concede in those two games we played and we built the confidence of the players,” Ntseki said about Kwinika starting over Frosler.

“When you have a good game, we build from a good game, Reeve was out for a reason and when he came back he did very well last week, but the plan was to have Zitha and Hlanti in closing down the attack from Sundowns and also attacking in possession.

“So I think Zitha did well, we did Reeve in to help him because we’re aware Sundowns were overloading that side of Zitha, so Reeve as a right back, the plan was to keep our lead and also to help with the overloading.”