Baxter's Xmas wish: more players

STUART Baxter is more excited about the thought of Christmas pudding than he is about the January transfer window and the upcoming PSL break.

The Kaizer Chiefs coach has his reasons, and they are quite compelling. Chiefs played their final league game of the year on Tuesday night, beating AmaZulu 2-0 at Soccer City to remain top of the log going into the recess.

Baxter was asked what thrilled him more between the seven-week long break and the transfer window period.

"I thought you were going to ask about the Christmas pudding, and that would have been my reply," a smiling Baxter said.

"Maybe the break is not as 100% bad for us as we think. A lot of players looked tired out there and maybe they need a break."

Baxter will have to work on preparing his team for the second half of the season without possibly eight of his key players, who could be in camp with Bafana Bafana for the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Afcon tournament, which will be hosted by South Africa, concludes on February 10, just two days before Chiefs resume their fixture list with a game against Mamelodi Sundowns.

And Baxter will have a tough time convincing the Chiefs hierarchy to allow him to buy a few more players to beef up the team due to its position on the log.

"When you are top of the league table it is difficult to tell anyone that we need to strengthen. But I will have one eye on the Afcon and the other on the transfer window," Baxter said.

"If we have the slightest bit of bad luck in Afcon with our players we could be looking thin. I am hoping we don't go out to buy big, but we could look to bolster the team."

Chiefs management have already spent a lot this season, recruiting four top defenders in Morgan Gould, Eric Mathoho, Siboniso Gaxa and Tsepo Masilela, as well as strikers Matthew Rusike and Kingston Nkhatha.

Gould has been injured since late August, but Baxter confirmed that the centre back has resumed training and could be ready to start playing in February.

Baxter still slammed his players for a poor performance against AmaZulu despite the win.

But he had positive feedback for Rusike after handing him his first start in a Chiefs jersey.

The Zimbabwean scored the opening goal for Amakhosi.