Steve Komphela defends decision to bench new Kaizer Chiefs signings

Kaizer Chiefs head coach Steve Komphela has defended his decision to bench all four of his new signings in the team's opening three matches of the campaign. 

Amakhosi signed Bhongolethu Jayiya, Dumisani Zuma, Teenage Hadebe and Philani Zulu, but none of them have done enough to be in the starting line-up. 

Zulu and Jayiya have so far been introduced from the bench, while Zuma and Hadebe are yet to feature for their new club. 

Hadebe, signed from Zimbabwean outfit Chicken Inn, is currently carrying an injury, forcing Komphela to continue playing Eric Mathoho and Lorenzo Gordinho in the heart of the Amakhosi defence. 

The 50-year-old is very cautious with his new signings, and he wants to gradually introduce them to the setup the same way he did with Gustavo Paez, who is slowly becoming one of the important players for the Soweto giants. 

"They are good enough [the four new signings]. We are being careful in the way we blend them in because it has to be done in a way that is smooth, but you have to be swift enough so that it doesn’t end up hurting you in that you had all these signings but you never used all of them," Komphela told the media.

"Very soon you will see there’s going to be a reflection of all of them playing, and you will be wondering when did they start going in," he said.  

"The same happened with (Gustavo) Paez. When he first came, we put him in slowly, up until we were hammered for not playing him. When we were comfortable that he can play, he did," added Komphela.