Johannesburg — Arthur Zwane is relatively pleased with the quality and number of personnel at his disposal, saying Kaizer Chiefs will consider new signings in January.
After enduring a seven-year trophy drought last season, Chiefs opted to hit the restart button, appointing club legend Zwane as the new coach.
Chiefs backed Zwane’s appointment, breaking the bank to sign 10 new players, including promoting youngster Mduduzi Shabalala from the reserves.
The new recruits include Yusuf Maart and Edmilson Dove, while they have let go of seniors such as captains Bernard Parker and Ramahlwe Mphahlele.
Amid the new arrivals and release of seniors, Chiefs have had a lukewarm start to the term as they are in the bottom half of the log with seven points.
That start has evoked a bag of mixed reactions from their fans, with some understanding that it’s a rebuilding phase, while others want Zwane gone.
But "10111" has called for cool heads, pleading with their fans to back the team and its current squad as they are working on combinations all round.
“When you are looking for combinations, you avoid panic (buying),” Zwane told the media after their 0-0 draw with AmaZulu at home on Saturday night.
“If you bring in players when you are trying combinations, you might not get it right. So we need to get it right with the players that we have right now.
“Three months is just around the corner in terms of the next window in January. I think that will give us a chance to see where we need to beef up.
“But for now, I think we have enough cover in all positions. We have two or three players in one position. And I think that will help us going forward.”
Chiefs, arguably, played their best football against Usuthu at FNB. But their wasteful act in front of goal, including missing a penalty, let them down.
But Zwane’s head was not dropped after that draw, commending his team for the efforts and acknowledging that there are areas they need to improve on.
“It’s the decision making (factor) that needs a lot of work at training. It’s going to come right... But the boys are responding positively,” Zwane said.
Chiefs will be in action on Sunday when they visit the controversial Marumo Gallants – whose coach, Romain Folz, is said to have resigned – at Royal Bafokeng.
They'll head into that game knowing they need to sort out their finishing ahead of their back-to-back clashes against AmaZulu in the MTN8 semi-final.
Keagan Dolly and Khama Billiat haven’t been at their best up front. But they’ll hope new striker Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana can make them tick again.
“Players will always use their own discretion and we’ll always allow them to because the game is a teacher,” the Meadowlands born coach explained.
“Today we could have capitalised and done better in terms of our decision making. But we were not that clinical when we had those moments as well.
“But we can only learn from this game and certain opportunities that we created. But we’ll get better with time. Yusuf also returned for today’s game.”
IOL Sport