Cape Town — After Kaizer Chiefs' calamitous performance against an average AmaZulu side over the weekend, heads will roll, starting with the club's most popular player - Itumeleng Khune.
It is hard to believe, but also understandable, that Chiefs fans turned their anger on the veteran Amakhosi, Khune who contributed loathsomely to the 4-0 demolition job at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. For several seasons now, Khune has been far and away the most popular player in the country.
Against AmaZulu, Khune was between the sticks. His glaring mistakes led to the second and third goals. His ball distribution has always been a strong point, but it was shockingly poor against Usuthu.
Many fans have openly condemned Khune after this humiliation and it is difficult to see how Chiefs could justify his selection for their next match on Saturday against in-form DStv Premiership pace-setters Mamelodi Sundowns.
The ageing Khune seems to have slowed down and lost agility. His sense of anticipation was dreadful, especially when AmaZulu had set-pieces.
Next to join Khune in the stands must be his supporting defenders, Happy Mashiane and Zitha Kwinika. The left-footed Mashi ane had fallen out of favour since coach Arthur Zwane took charge of the team but on Friday he was given a surprise call-up.
He made a right-royal mess of things and AmaZulu managed to breach his defence with contemptible ease. His weakness also helped AmaZulu pull Chiefs' rearguard out of shape and Edmilson Dove's play suffered. He made way for Dillon Solomons before the hour mark.
Kwinika's woeful performance was rather out of character because he has been reliable so far this season. However, AmaZulu made a mockery of his man-marking skills. Last week, he also failed to impress against Sekhukhune United when Chiefs suffered a shock 1-0 defeat on a night they were celebrating their 53rd anniversary.
Bruce Bvuma and Brandon Petersen are in line to replace Khune as the team's goalmouth custodian. In defence, names like Erick Mathoho, Siyabonga Ngezana, Sifiso Hlanti, Njabulo Ngcobo and Thabani Dube will go into the hat.
Apart from concentrating on tightening the team's leaky defence, Burundian Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana must spend the next few days working on taking penalties.
Some critics said that Chiefs came apart at the seams after Bimenyimana missed a penalty and Zwane also felt it could have been a different outcome if the 25-year-old had not missed the spot-kick.
As bad as the 4-0 defeat sounds, it could have been much worse according to AmaZulu coach, Romain Folz. He said his team could have scored more goals.
“It could have been more but I’m happy we scored four,” said Folz. “It is the game that we killed by half-time, knowing that we were able to convert our chances. I even think there were a couple of chances that (Thabo) Qalinge had in the first 10 minutes that should have gone in.
“Tactically, we were a better team, but we allowed them to have possibilities in the second half. I think some of our situations can be done much better.”
Zwane will do well to read Folz's post-match comments.
Expect Zwane to be given a right royal dressing down when he sits down with Chiefs’ hierarchy at Monday’s regular boardroom meeting.
IOL Sport