Following the recent criticism aimed at Kaizer Chiefs striker Flavio Silva, assistant coach Cedric Kaze has come to his defence, arguing that not every striker needs to be like Robert Lewandowski.
Kaze took charge of media duties at Naturena on Tuesday, as Chiefs prepared for their league clash against Polokwane City FC at FNB Stadium in Soweto on Wednesday. Head coach Nasreddine Nabi was absent, having returned to Tunisia.
The former Young Africans coach had a family emergency involving his wife, which forced him to leave Chiefs temporarily last Friday.
Chiefs are fresh from claiming an impressive 2-0 victory over Stellenbosch FC in their first match of the new Betway Premiership season at Athlone Stadium this past weekend. The Glamour found the back of the net through a great free-kick from Nkosingiphile Ngcobo and Glody Lilepo’s penalty.
And with the Soweo giants eager to improve from their ninth-place finish last campaign, they signed a few players to improve the quality of their squad.
Amongst the new faces at Naturena are Siphesihle Ndlovu, Flavio Silva, Paseka Mako, Thabiso Monyane, Nkanyiso Shinga, and Ethan Chislett.
One of Chiefs new signings, Silva, has been subjected to heavy criticism despite only featuring for the club in friendly matches in the Netherlands and the Toyota Cup against Asante Kotoko SC a few weeks ago.
WHAT KAZE SAID ON FLAVIO SILVA’S CRITICISM
Kaze threw his weight behind Silva, stating that not all strikers will have the attributes of European strikers like Terry Henry and Robert Lewandowski.
“I’ll give you some facts [about Silva], he’s a player that trains very well, he’s a player that scores goals at training,” Kaze said.
“People think that all strikers need to be like Terry Henry or Lewandowski, but he’s a different profile. He’s a player who is always in the box, and when there are two or three crosses, you’ll find him in the box; when there’s a rebound, you’ll find him there.
“He’s a player that has tremendous presence in the box, and we need players like that,” the former FC Barcelona youth coach added.
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