Johannesburg – Former Kaizer Chiefs star striker Pollen Ndlanya believes the club’s slump in form so early in the season could be attributed to what happens at training sessions when the coach prepares his team for match situations.
While Amakhosi are out of the winner-takes-it-all MTN8 Wafa Wafa competition after being knocked out by finalists Mamelodi Sundowns, in the league the struggle that started and lasted for the better part of the last campaign, is continuing.
It’s still early days to sound the alarm bells, as far as the marathon league chase goes but Chiefs are perched in 12th place in the 16 club Premiership, having tasted victory only once, the narrow 1-0 victory over Chippa United and having drawn thrice and lost twice.
Ndlanya, 51, a striker with a total of 93 club goals playing for both local teams and in Turkey, is of the view there is a big disconnection at Chiefs between what happens at training and what the players deliver on the field of play.
“We have the players that deserve to play for Chiefs, there is quality in that team, it’s a blend of older experienced players and the youngsters, both who played last season and new ones but on match day, the performance leaves much to be desired,”
observed Ndlanya.
“You can have all the stars in the world but if the players don’t understand their roles, you can forget getting the best out of them.
“There is no coordination at Chiefs at the moment between what the defenders, midfielders and striker do. They just kick the ball aimlessly with the hope that the long balls will find [Samir] Nurkovic to score.
“When on the pitch, every player must understand their role. At the moment there is no interaction, no combination at all. The four goals scored so far are a fluke.
“Take the case of Sundowns for instance, there is a beautiful build-up and you can even anticipate that this coordinated passing will lead to a goal.”
The Glamour Boys ex-goal-getter is perturbed that the spark that turned Amakhosi into one of the most revered teams in the PSL in the 1980s and 90s is gone.
“Chiefs is no longer the well-oiled machine it used to be.
“It is up to the coach [returnee Stuart Baxter] to remedy the situation because it starts with what the coach tells the players, the instructions he gives them on what roles they must play during matches.
“To be honest though, I’ve not been to any of the Chiefs training sessions of late to see what instructions are given to players. It’s like being in a class. The training session is the class. You learn, and the match situation is the exam, it’s either you pass or fail, and Chiefs players are failing the exam because they didn’t do well in class.
“The lack of self-confidence has turned them into cowards who are scared that if they take responsibility and fail, they will have to shoulder the blame as individuals.”
Ndlanya predicted the well-oiled machine that is Sundowns will win the league again.
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