'We'll get them': Zwane vows after Kaizer Chiefs suffer third loss in a row against Royal AM

Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane is not panicking after beginning his reign as head coach of Kaizer Chiefs with a 1-0 defeat in an opening DStv Premiership match against Royal AM in Durban on Saturday.

Cameroonian goalkeeper and man-of-the-match Hugo Nyame and goal scorer Ricardo Nascimento were the heroes for Royal as they helped their club to notch a third successive league win over Amakhosi. 

The Durban club beat Chiefs twice in their debut Premiership campaign before adding another scalp in front of the capacity crowd at the Chatsworth Stadium on Saturday.

Zwane sounded very confident of the team’s future under his helm, saying the loss does not reflect what actually happened in the match.

“I’m telling you now, we’re rebuilding this team and we’re going to get it right.

“We’re going to win some games and we’re going to win with flair and win much better. Even today (Saturday) we were a better team by far.”

“We did everything in terms of creating the goalscoring opportunities. The ball was not going to go in and ja, that was the unfortunate part.

“I think the boys executed themselves very well in terms of taking more chances and if the goalkeeper could be the man-of-the-match it means we were unfortunate. We had about two or three one-on-ones and there are those that were cleared off the goal line in the first half.”

Zwane was, however, not happy that his charges were not fully concentrating when they conceded Royal’s goal in the first minute of the match after a corner kick.

“I think we were still in a relaxed mode when we conceded the goal,” said the Chiefs coach.

“I think it was one minute into the game. So we need to take this more like a wake-up call for us. I think we can learn from this. We need to be switched on from the first whistle. But a lot of positives taken out of this match.”

Despite the setback, which comes a few days before they host Maritzburg United at the FNB Stadium on Tuesday and travel to face champions Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday, Zwane said he’s confident his team will bounce back.

Zwane was particularly pleased with the performance given by newly signed players Zitha Kwinika, Siyethemba Sithebe, Yusuf Maart and Ashley du Preez, who all started on Saturday.

“Top class,” was Zwane’s assessment of what he saw of Chiefs’ new players. “What a game. I’m more than happy, though there’s room for improvement. We still have 29 more games to play, cup games as well. This is one season that people will get to know what’s going on.”

Zwane said there was a bit of luck for Royal in winning the match on Saturday and he vowed the same would not happen when they meet in the second round in Johannesburg.

“If you look at the game today, they were just lucky to get maximum points. So I'm not even worried about that (Royal becoming a hoodoo for Chiefs). Come the second round they’re not going to come back with points at FNB Stadium.

“If you checked the game, the better part of the second half they couldn’t come out of their own half and it’s unlike the team of Royal AM calibre. They’re very good on the ball but in the second half how many chances they created?

“Even in the first half all the chances they created were from our mistakes because we gave the ball away cheaply.

“There’s no doubt that if we can put them on their back foot for the better part of the second half than in means we’re on the right track. We’re going to get them.” 

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