Chiefs could easily have won 4-1, says Zwane after Sundowns loss

Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane says it's not a matter of whether he's the right man for the job, but rather about a process Amakhosi have embarked on in an attempt to revive their fortunes.

Chiefs suffered a third league defeat in a row and a first league double of losses to runaway DStv Premiership log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, losing 1-0 at FNB Stadium on Saturday. 

The latest loss, coming after those against Sekhukhune United (1-0) and AmaZulu (4-0), has left many Chiefs supporters wondering if Zwane, appointed at the beginning of 2022-2023, is the right man for the job. Chiefs now look certain to only be able to fight for second spot, if that, after Saturday's loss left them 22 points behind Sundowns. 

Zwane admitted Chiefs are out of the league race and the best they can still do is fight for qualification for next season's Caf  Champions League. 

“As a club right now it’s not a case of if I’m a right man for the job or not. It’s a case of what is it that we want to achieve,” said Zwane after his side wasted nine opportunities to score against Sundowns. All Chiefs' attempts on goal were off target. 

“Unfortunately we can’t just come and want to hit the ground running. There’s a lot of things you want to make sure that they work.

“Keagan [Dolly] had a tap-in but couldn’t take it. What must I do — must I blame him? I can’t. I’m a coach and I must go back to the drawing board, back to the field and prepare the players, work on them until we get it right.

“If we were playing badly I would say maybe I’m finding it difficult. But I’ve seen a lot of positives.”

Zwane praised his team for their effort in the second half that finished with Amakhosi pinning the visitors down in their own half as they tried to level the score. 

“In the second half we tweaked things a bit and we were on top of Sundowns. Do you still say it’s the coach? I don’t think so,” Zwane said.

“Sometimes you need luck. Sundowns created their own luck and they scored a goal. You look at many other games that they’ve played, it’s pure luck and they needed it but it’s because they’ve been playing good football too.

“In our case I think it’s a matter of luck. When the time is right I think we’ll start grinding the results. We do have the quality.

“Quality is the players that you have in your team who understand the system. Individually they must be talented and we must know that they can easily fit in.

“There’s no doubt of quality [at Chiefs] — the challenge will be when you’re trying to get the system going.”

Zwane felt Chiefs could have won if they managed better composure around the area.

“It could have easily been 4-1 when I look at them [the chances] now. It was one of those games where we couldn’t capitalise on the chances we created and force them to make mistakes.

“If we can take this performance of the second half we stand a good chance of redeeming ourselves.”

Zwane said he wasn't surprised at the reaction of those who wanted to see the club do better under his guidance this season.  

“Pressure is part of the game and I’m not going to panic,” he said.

“I’ll just have to keep working hard. One day God will answer our prayers because I believe we could have collected maximum points today [Saturday]. But good football sometimes doesn't help when you don’t get a result. It counts for nothing.”

Chiefs host Royal AM next at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Sunday. 

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