Ex-Kaizer Chiefs coach advises erratic Ashley du Preez to stay away from toxic Amakhosi fans and 'recover himself'

Ashley du Preez was one of the Kaizer Chiefs players who played in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup's second preliminary round at the TD Mazembe Stadium.

They needed a positive result against AS Simba to stand a chance of making the group stage. With the scoreline still reading 0-0, Du Preez had a massive opportunity to tap the ball into an empty net, but he sky-rocketed his effort from just a few yards out.

He ended up being benched in the second leg that Chiefs won 3-1, and has since missed Premier Soccer League games against Siwelele, Durban City, and Orbit College.

From the look of things, the Glamour Boys co-coaches Cedric Kaze and Khalil Ben Youssef have lost faith in the versatile attacker. 

The Kaizer Chiefs supporters were not amused with the miss that could have reduced the pressure on Amakhosi and put the team in a position to advance to the next phase. 

He was even counselled as revealed by coach Kaze, "As coaches, as a club, with his teammates, we are here to support him. We are here to show him that even in bad moments, we are here to support because, you know, it is easy to throw rocks at someone who hasn’t done well.

"But remember, Ashley has helped us a lot in previous games. I remember the last-minute goal against [Mamelodi] Sundowns in the semifinals, last season, of the Nedbank Cup, which took us to the final, which took us to the trophy.

"But the biggest thing is to show him our support, and I’m pretty sure that he is a guy with a very strong mentality. He will bounce back very quickly," the Burundian concluded.

Former Chiefs coach Cavin Johnson believes Du Preez can bounce back quickly if he avoids social media and what the fans are saying.

"Look, as far as that is concerned [criticism from supporters on social media], the player of today, and especially when you play for Kaizer Chiefs, as a player, no matter what position you play, it's about who you play for," he told Soccer Laduma.

"Especially if you miss a goal, social media, the news, all of them, they are all over you. So as a player, I think Ashley has to recover himself and stay away from those areas. Don't look or read because Chiefs don't only have [one source covering them], no!

"They have millions of supporters that are also reporters, you understand? So, as a player, I would suggest that he stay away from social media, switch his phone off completely, Instagram, Twitter, X, whatever, stay away from there.

"Concentrate on your game, stay out of there until you get into the space to do your work that you get paid for, and that is to be on the field and score goals. That's my suggestion to him," Johnson concluded. 

As opposed to the previous seasons, Chiefs have many options in attack, meaning the competition is stiff.

In the wide areas, he has the likes of Pule Mmodi, Mfundo Vilakazi, Gaston Sirino, Glody Lilepo, Wandile Duba, among others to deal with.

Khanyisa Mayo, Flavio Silva, and Etiosa Ighodaro are the new additions in the central attack and are currently being rotated depending on the individual form. 

Du Preez has to take his chances when the coaches opt to grant him minutes.