Kaizer Chiefs hit an all-time low when Cape Town City edged them 2-1 on Saturday, making it four successive defeats for the first time in as many years. For Arthur Zwane, in charge on an interim basis, the poor run highlights seven years of repeated failure.
The former Kaizer Chiefs winger has admitted that some of the players are not good enough to play for a team like Chiefs and has suggested the need to discard them and bring in more capable and deserving players.
“We have too many problems, that is why if you look at the goals we have been conceding. We have been conceding similar goals, maybe the very same individual. In football, you don’t want to expose players; you want to protect them. I was a player myself; I made a lot of mistakes. You try to protect players, but there are times that you see we’re not going to get better,” Zwane said.
Chiefs last won the league title in the 2014/15 season under Stuart Baxter, who was axed recently after a poor run of results. Zwane, who served as Baxter’s assistant, has made it clear that now may be time to make drastic changes to the team. He is convinced that some players within his squad are complacent and are not pulling themselves by their bootstraps.
“I think some of the games, the way we have been conceding from the start of the season, tell you that we need a change. That change will take us to another level. It will give some of the players a wake-up call.
“It’s a case of the comfort zone, a case of ‘I know that I’m going to play, I’m playing for Kaizer Chiefs’. But what is it that you’re giving back to the people that have been behind you through thick and thin?
“We don’t want to single out players, but we put our 11 players to compete and try to get the best out of them. Unfortunately, results aren’t coming. Unfortunately, we have to change if we want to get back to where we belong,” he added.
“We have to accept as a team that we have players, but some aren’t good enough to be here. That needs for us going forward to do introspection as a club.”
The man nicknamed ‘10111’, who won two league titles with Chiefs during his decade-long stint, said there was a need to add quality and start challenging for honours. The closest they came to challenging Mamelodi Sundowns, who have won it five times on the trot, for the league was in the 2019/20 season. They lost it on the final day of the season.
“We’ve got players that have been part and parcel of the team for the past six to seven years, and things haven’t been going our way. That tells you there’s going to be change. We’re in the business of football, and it needs results.
“When it comes to that, we will try and see whom we can bring to beef up the squad and the players we should release. With the rate we’re going as a club, there’s no way we can still be saying we’ve got quality and we’re not winning games.
“When you talk about quality, you have to be winning and challenging for honours, and if you’re nowhere near there and for the past seven years, I’ll be lying to you if I say players will get it right.
“Some will get it right, some will not get it right, and as a club, the time will come for a change, and it’s not far. The time is now. We have to rebuild and look for players that are good enough to play for this team and go back to where we belong. We will play with no fear. It’s a setback; it’s not a train smash. We will change things for the better,” said Zwane.
He revealed that it was now embarrassing to walk in the streets “freely” because of the bad results, adding that he would be glad to take up the permanent coaching position if offered to him.
“If the opportunity is granted, I’ll grab it with both hands and give my utmost to make sure we bring the glory days.”
