Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Cedric Kaze has pinpointed the key improvement at the club compared to the previous Betway Premiership season.
Kaze recently bagged the coaching job at Amakhosi to serve as a co-coach alongside Khalil Ben Youssef for the remainder of the current campaign.
The coaching duo has been entrusted to lead one of the most storied clubs on the African continent following the exit of head coach Nasreddine Nabi.
In a shocking decision a few weeks ago, Chiefs announced the mutual agreement to part ways with the Tunisian coach. The highly-rated mentor arrived at Chiefs in July 2024 and guided the club to its first trophy in almost a decade after winning the 2025 Nedbank Cup.
After Nabi’s departure, the Glamour Boys appointed Kaze and Ben Youssef, who served as assistant coaches under the former Young Africans SC tactician.
Kaze and Ben Youssef have a huge task of turning Chiefs into one of the competitive sides to fight for major trophies. The Naturena-based side has already lost out on one trophy after suffering a 5-4 defeat against Stellenbosch FC on penalties a few weeks ago in the Carling Knockout Cup.
WHAT KAZE SAID ABOUT THE IMPROVED AREA AT CHIEFS
Speaking at the Kaizer Chiefs Village on Monday, Kaze highlighted one area that the club has improved on, which is defence. The Soweto giants have kept five clean sheets in eight league matches so far this season.
“Last season, we were a team that was leaking goals all the time. I don’t believe that we kept five clean sheets for the whole of last season,” Kaze said.
“This team has gone three or four games without conceding a goal recently. If you want to build a house, you start with a strong foundation.
“So our foundation is to lock up in defence and the system of playing, then the forward players can get confidence to score when they are in situations of scoring. The one thing I believe we need to work on is our confidence in scoring.
“There are no issues with getting the last pass, but we need to raise our awareness in front of the net; we need to be hungry to put numbers in the box. Sometimes a player misses a goal and the next day on social media they’re just killing him, so that takes time to build the confidence.”
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