Young Africans head coach Miguel Gamondi believes Kaizer Chiefs will need more quality players if they are to compete in the Betway Premiership.
Chiefs suffered a 4-0 loss in the inaugural Toyota Cup against Yanga at a packed Free State Stadium in Mangaung on Sunday.
Despite the match being a friendly, there was a huge interest to have an idea of how new coach Amakhosi Nasreddine Nabi intends to play next season.
But Gamondi, who has previously won the Premiership with Mamelodi Sundowns, says it will be important for Chiefs to manage expectations as they try to rebuild under Nabi.
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“In my opinion, the expectations are too high. I always say in football you need players,” Gamondi told the media.
“You need to have experience and I think Kaizer Chiefs put in five young players today [Sunday]. But you can not expect to win at a high level with young and inexperienced players.
“I am not criticising Kaizer Chiefs but for me, the biggest club is difficult to manage in terms of players but if you created the biggest expectations then you must perform on the pitch.
“There is no excuse. But I did speak with the coach and I encouraged him. There is a lot of work to do. But I also think if you want to compete against a team like Sundowns, Pirates or Cape Town City it is not easy.
“As a coach, you can work inside the pitch during the week but if you don’t have quality it’s going to be difficult,” he added.
“I know it’s pre-season, results don’t matter much. But Chiefs didn’t create scoring chances today. It’s a concerning situation. There is a lot of work to do.”
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The Yanga coach added: “But I wish coach Nabi and management that they can manage the situation and improve but my opinion is that you must take it step by step. Last season was bad for Chiefs but you can not change anything if you also didn’t bring a star player, big players, it’s difficult.
“The most important aspect is to manage the expectations, especially from the fans. We must be clever in how we pass the message because we must be realistic with the players we have. For me, this will be a transition season for Kaizer Chiefs.”
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