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JOHANNESBURG. — Stuart Baxter has spoken about Kaizer Chiefs’ apparent struggles to fill the void left by club legend Willard Katsande.
Katsande’s decade-long affiliation, with the Amakhosi, came to an end in July after the 35-year-old’s contract at Naturena, expired.
The Zimbabwe international featured in 326 official matches for Chiefs and played an integral role, in the middle of the park for the club, serving as an effective screen between the midfield and defence.
Since his departure, the Soweto giants have shipped nine goals in five matches across all competitions, including four in their 1-4 defeat to Royal AM last weekend.
“We were very miserly when I was here the last time,” Baxter said. “I don’t want to be back-heavy.
“I don’t want to have a tight defence but then not play expansive football so we’re finding that balance.
“Whether we have a player like Willard, no we don’t. We don’t have that one that sits.
“Anthony (Akumu), when he came in, was going to do that role, but we don’t have that in the way we play at the moment.
“We have an extra centre-back, who steps up rather than a midfield player who drops in, so we should compensate for it but, at the moment, we are making such poor decisions.
“In moments of the game, and it was the same against Sundowns, moments of the game are destroying the complete performance.
“If we had played properly for the full 90 minutes, we wouldn’t be having that argument.”
A former Chiefs player feels the Amakhosi have made no progress from last season and wants the former Bafana Bafana mentor to pull up his socks.
The Soweto giants have the worst defence in the league.
Zimbabwean Robson Muchichwa hit out at Baxter and called for the coach to turn things around.
“It’s like these guys are continuing from what they were doing last season. I don’t see any changes from the coach since he came in,’’ said Muchichwa.
“A coach should not apologise, he should bring results. If a coach apologises, he is apologising for what?
“He was brought to save the sinking ship, but he is apologising.
“The coach needs to pull up his socks because Chiefs needs to win. He needs to do his job. Chiefs is a winning team and they cannot go on like this.
“They can’t concede six goals in two games. He was brought in to save a sinking ship, but it seems the ship is sinking more and more.
“Everyone in the team has to pull up their socks and play their role. They need to wake up because Chiefs is a big team. We don’t need apologies, we need wins.” — KickOff.com
Online Reporter