Cape Town - Coach Arthur Zwane has claimed that Kaizer Chiefs have quality players at their disposal, and that is why they create so any goalscoring chances and are only behind champions-elect Mamelodi Sundowns in that department.
“We do have the quality,” Zwane told the media at the club’s village ahead of their Premiership clash against Stellenbosch FC at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
“Yes, when you are at Kaizer Chiefs, and things do not go your way because people expect the club to be up there competing for the No 1 spot, people will doubt the quality.”
Amakhosi have blown hot and cold this season. So much so that they are gunning to salvage their campaign via finishing second in the league and winning the Nedbank Cup.
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Meanwhile, Sundowns have been the team to beat – yet again. They are on course to win a treble, including the Nedbank Cup, league and Caf Champions League titles.
Sundowns’ sheer dominance in the league hasn't been a fluke. They’ve scored 45 goals and conceded only nine times as they need only two points to wrap up the league title.
.@KaizerChiefs would be ‘up there’ with @Masandawana if it wasn’t for this ...
📽️: @MihlaliBaleka pic.twitter.com/KAR5brCzc9
Zwane, though, has argued that Chiefs wouldn’t be fourth on the log and 22 points behind the runaway champions if they converted their chances and kept things solid and tidy at the back.
“When you look at the number of chances that we created this season, we are probably second behind Mamelodi Sundowns,” he said.
“The only difference (between us and them) was that Sundowns took 80% of their chances. But we only scored 30 (27 goals in the league).”
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Chiefs have given away cheap goals this season due to a porous defence and individual mistakes amid their failure to be more clinical up front.
“When it comes to defending, yes, we’ve been very sloppy. Also, when you look at the goals that we conceded – it’s not that teams punished us,” Zwane said.
"They capitalised because we gave it to them. It’s not like they outplayed or outsmarted us. I would understand (if they did in some matches).
“Yes, maybe we had a poor performance where we were blowing hot and cold in the game. But still, we created several chances. And if you can count those games, there are probably three.”
With opportunities to save their season via finishing in the top three in the league and winning the Nedbank Cup still up for grabs, Chiefs cannot afford to miss chances in their remaining games, starting with their clash against Stellenbosch.
@MihlaliBaleka