Kaizer Chiefs will improve with time after record league defeat against Sundowns, says Zwane

Kaizer Chiefs suffered their heaviest defeat in the Premier Soccer League when they lost 4-0 to champions Mamelodi Sundowns in a DStv Premiership match at Loftus Stadium on Saturday.

Asked after the match if this was a record defeat, Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane said he had not yet checked the stats and thought it was the second time they lost by the same margin against Sundowns as he recalled Chiefs lost by four goals in another Premiership match in Stuart Baxter's first stint with the club in 2012.

But in that match, played in August 2012, Chiefs had a consolation goal from former midfielder Reinelwe Letsolonyane, who scored in the 76th minute after the Brazilians had stormed into a 4-0 lead.

Thamsanqa Sangweni, Tebogo Langerman, Edward Manqele and Lebohang Mokoena were Sundowns’ scorers on that day in a game dictated by Teko Modise as playmaker for the Brazilians.

Fast forward to Saturday, where Chiefs defender Siyabonga Ngezana played a big part in giving Sundowns an early 2-0 lead, with Sundowns' goals scored by Gaston Sirino and Peter Shalulile.

Shalulile doubled his tally after the break and Sundowns' new signing from Ethiopia, Nasir Ahmed, announced his arrival in SA football with a great goal to wrap up Chiefs' rout towards the end.

“If my memory serves me, I think in 2012 with coach Stuart [Baxter], I think we lost to Sundowns here [Loftus] 4-1 or 4-0,” said Zwane. 

“Look, sometimes these things happen to the best teams in the world and with us, obviously, at the moment we’re still trying to get the combinations right.

“We’ve brought in new players and we have players who were part and parcel of the team for some time. But you can see that, judging by the way we played today [Saturday], we still have a long way to go as I have alluded in the past.

“But it was good that we were exposed like this. Now it boils down to one thing: it’s early in the season, we can still pick up, we can learn from this game and move on.”

Did this game come early? Zwane said for him it was good that they played Sundowns early in the season because it gives Chiefs a chance to assess where they are since he took over.

“No, I think this is the business of football and you can’t choose who you want to play against and at what time of the season.

“It was good for us, reason being we’ll look at ourselves in terms of the gap. We have to see whether we’re close enough. We were playing against a team that’s been doing very, very well for many season now.

“It was good for the boys and we’ll look at ourselves, and going forward we know where we need to improve, individually and collectively as a team, including us as technical staff. I’m sure we made mistakes there because that’s football.

“But for some of the players it was a learning curve. They’ve been in the game and it was not the first time they lost 4-0 and even me as a coach, maybe in the PSL it’s for the first time, but I’ve lost 4-0 many times and I came back very, very strong later on.

“It’s good for us to be in this situation and we’ll get better with time.”

Chiefs, who have lost two of their first three league matches, will host newcomers and early log leaders Richards Bay at the Moses Mabhida Stadium at 8pm on Saturday.

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