Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Cedric Kaze has defended their habit of chopping and changing the starting XI, saying injuries and suspensions force their hand.
Chiefs made seven changes from the starting XI that lost 1-0 to Richards Bay FC two weeks ago when they hosted Durban City at FNB Stadium on Sunday, where they won 1-0 courtesy of Glody Lilepo’s thunderbolt.
“Every team needs consistency to get better results. It [Chiefs being forced to consistently change the line-up] is something maybe we don’t talk enough about, but we have been very, very unfortunate in terms of injuries and suspensions,” Kaze said
“Those factors have crippled the team, making it very hard for us to have a consistent starting XI. I believe that if we did not have those injuries, we would have had a consistent starting XI.”
Kaze revealed that Ethan Chislett, who had impressed in the past few games, missed the Durban City fixture due to a niggling injury, adding that Thabo Cele’s omission was “tactical”. Cele had also made decent cameos in recent matches.
Chiefs have scored a measly 17 goals from 19 league games this season, having struggled to convert their chances. Kaze, though, does not feel Amakhosi necessarily need a specialist finishing coach, a route some Premiership clubs, like Orlando Pirates and Sekhukhune United, have taken in the past.
“I believe the staff is enough [and] skilled to deal with that [finishing]. We have also brought in an extra member to the technical staff with the experience [Dillon Sheppard].
“At training we do a lot of exercises on finishing in anticipation of a lot of situations that can arise in games. I am pretty sure when we get a little bit of confidence, we are going to be better in that phase [the final third].”
