Has Lady Luck deserted Kaizer Chiefs or are they simply not good enough? Amakhosi’s struggles continue

It has been a story of near misses for Chiefs in their matches of late, and it is increasingly clear that luck is not on their side.

Tight calls have gone against them in crucial situations, but it must be noted that in football, you create your own luck. 

Chiefs have been waiting for their luck to turn in their favour, but perhaps a different approach could have been useful.

Chiefs biggest problem over the last few seasons has been their inability to find the back of the net consistently.  

The club were hoping that they had solved this issue when they brought in new strikers Flávio Da Silva, Khanyisa Mayo and Etiosa Ighodaro.

However, despite new faces leading the attack, their goal-scoring woes persist and now threaten to derail what was a promising season.

In 13 matches played, Chiefs have only scored just as many goals, averaging a goal a game, a worrying statistic for a team with ambition to win the league.

Defensively, Chiefs made huge strides from seasons before, another area they needed to fix as a matter of serious urgency.

They have so far only conceded six goals, the second-lowest after table topping Orlando Pirates, who boast the league’s meanest defence.

Despite this improvement, Amakhosi are still relatively error-prone in defence, as shown in the CAF Confederation Cup. 

Inacio Miguel, who joined last season and was meant to bring leadership and add some steel, has made some glaring blunders which have led to goals.

Having co-coaches has been a growing trend in the PSL since Mamelodi Sundowns implemented the idea a few seasons ago.

It is often used as a temporary solution after a coach leaves, and Chiefs have gone that route following Nasreddine Nabi’s departure.

However, it usually does not work as a clash of egos, ideas and philosophies often leads to confusion in the dressing room.

Whether that will be the case at Chiefs, remains to be seen, but Chiefs fans will hope that this arrangement works. 

Chiefs co-coach Ben Youssef acknowledged that the AFCON break will present a perfect opportunity for him and his fellow co-coach Kaze to fix their biggest issue, goalscoring.

The league has taken a break with the CAF AFCON tournament starting later this month, and this will provide Ben Youssef and Kaze with ample time to attend to the issue.

“We are so happy about the performance of the team in the last few games. I think the team performed very well. But we are all frustrated about missing points because we are not scoring the opportunities we get,” Ben Youssef told the media. 

“We have to continue to work and fix this problem. Then I think the most important thing is the performance of the team. When the team is performing well, we don’t have to be scared. But when the team is not performing well, that’s a real problem for us.”

PSL

Kaizer Chiefs 

Orlando Pirates