Muhsin Ertugral has laid bare the Kaizer Chiefs weakness he exploited in Cape Town City FC’s 1-0 triumph over the Soweto giants in a Betway Premiership encounter on Sunday.
In his first game back in the SA elite league as Cape Town City interim coach, Ertugral made a statement by defeating his former club, Chiefs, 1-0 at the Cape Town Stadium.
Darwin Gonzalez’s second-half goal secured a crucial victory for CT City, marking a turnaround for the club under coach Ertugral. CT City had struggled under the guidance of Eric Tinkler, prompting the appointment of Ertugral as the technical director, who also assumed the role of interim head coach.
After inflicting a demoralising defeat on his former team to start the new year, Ertugral exposed a glaring weakness in Chiefs’ defence, their inability to effectively defend against rapid counter-attacks.
This vulnerability was exploited when Thabo Nodada showcased exceptional vision, splitting the Amakhosi defence with a perfectly weighted pass that released Darwin Gonzalez, who calmly converted the one-on-one opportunity against Bruce Bvuma.
ERTUGRAL EXPLOITS CHIEFS’ VULNERABILITY TO COUNTER-ATTACKS
“…Collectiveness sometimes is missing in South African football. The organisation has to be in synergy, and that’s what we worked on in the last three days, more than the inner zone patterns,” said Ertugral. “The collectiveness when we lose the ball was important for us.
“But the most important thing is how we can counter because we know that Chiefs is a team that has the deficit when you have quick transitions, offensive part and when you place yourself a little bit in the right way, you could end up in the last third.
“If I’m not mistaken, we had about six or seven entries into the last third, but the challenge for us was finding the right timing, the right pass, right dribbling, and sometimes we didn’t have enough numbers. We had to keep the ball in those situations, but that is something that we didn’t do as we lost the ball. Chiefs aggressively launched counter-attacks, but we played in a disciplined manner.”
Meanwhile, Ertugral admitted to keeping a close eye on Chiefs’ recent games, which proved invaluable in formulating his game plan. He also dispelled the notion that the Chiefs lack quality.
“Chiefs always have my interest. I have been watching the team very closely. That has helped me as a coach who has not been involved in South African football in recent years,” he added. “This helped me quickly to get my feet in and understand where the challenges are.
“I must say Chiefs is a good team. I hear [people say] that there is no quality, but there is beauty quality. There’s lots of quality.”
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