Why Itumeleng Khune and Zitha Kwinika were benched  

Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has explained why he dropped captain Itumeleng Khune and defender Zitha Kwinika to the bench in their DStv Premiership 2-0 win over Royal AM on Sunday.

Goals from Sifiso Hlanti and Ashley Du Preez gave Amakhosi all three points against Thwihli Thwahla at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium.

Zwane decided to start with goalkeeper Brandon Petersen and centre-back Siyabonga Ngezana, who responded positively on the day. 

Khune has played 11 matches across all competitions for the Glamour Boys this campaign, having conceded 10 goals and kept two clean sheets in the process. 

Meanwhile, Kwinika has featured in 19 games for the Soweto giants and found the back of the net on one occasion. 

ARTHUR ZWANE’S DECISION TO BENCH ITUMELENG KHUNE AND ZITHA KWINIKA 

Speaking about the decision to bench Khune and Kwinika, Zwane told the media that: “When it comes to Itu and Kwinika, as I said earlier on we have been playing poorly and unfortunately when you look at the goals that we conceded playing were individual mistakes.”

“There were no mistakes caused by the whole team. So, those things do happen.

“But having said that is not because they performed badly in the previous games.”

The 49-year-old mentor continued: “We had to make changes here and there because we have a very big squad and also give other players an opportunity to showcase their talents. And they responded positively.

“We are creating that competition [environment] where everyone is able to show that hunger of going there and competing.”

ARTHUR ZWANE ON CHIEFS’ PERFORMANCE COMPARED TO THEIR PREVIOUS GAMES

“However, when you look at this game and many other matches in terms of performance there is no difference, the only difference is the scoreline as we managed to take our chances,” he added.

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