Snl24 | 5 Concerns For Johnson At Chiefs

Following Cavin Johnson’s first game in charge at Kaizer Chiefs, Soccer Laduma looks at five areas that Johnson would still have to resolve.

1. Strikers

In his first match in charge, Johnson changed the frontline, with strikers such as Ranga Chivaviro and Jasond Gonzalez on the bench, in favour of Mduduzi Shabalala and Christian Saile, who is not a natural striker.

Former Amakhosi midfielder Michael Nkambule says it’s a sign that Johnson does not trust the strikers who are currently at the club.

“When I look at Cavin, he doesn’t trust those strikers (on the bench). What he did (against Arrows), he played with Saile and when he took him off, he didn’t go for a striker but still put in a midfielder and the team is trailing,” Nkambule said on TK Solutions TV YouTube channel.

“For me it shows the strikers he has, he doesn’t trust them,” Nkambule said.

2. Centre-back pairing and left back

Chiefs have continued to leak goals regardless of trying out different centre-back pairings, including the left-back position, which has not been stabilised.

Nkambule went further and believes that’s where Amakhosi have to beef up.

“They have to beef up because if you check the full backs, left back position still needs to be beefed up. Centre-back no, they were shaky (against Arrows),” he said.

3. Creative midfielders

Johnson could still seemingly not solve the midfield conundrum of Sibongiseni Mthethwa, Edson Castillo and Yusuf Maart, as they continued to create little chances, with most goal threats coming from set-plays.

“It’s been a story that has been happening at Chiefs, the creativity is not there. I think they need to sign creative players. There has not been that thing that switches the team on,” former Amakhosi attacker Thuso Phala said on TV Solutions TV YouTube channel.

4. Is Petersen good enough to be Chiefs number one?

In modern football, goalkeepers are required to be as good with their feet as with their saves.

Brandon Petersen is currently struggling with the ball at his feet, after a high number of mistakes with back passes this season, is it time for Chiefs to realise they need a new number one from outside after another error against Golden Arrows?

5. Mentality

The morale at Chiefs is currently low after a run of successive losses but it’s been a long time since Amakhosi dominated games and made the opposition feel who is the bigger team.

“That’s how Chiefs used to win games, they would bombard you with pressure, you’ll get pressure from fans and you’re playing Chiefs, they would bully you,” Phala said on TV Solutions TV YouTube channel.

“You’d see Chiefs dominate games but now they are not, they are willing to sit back and let Arrows dominate the game?” he asked, questioning Chiefs players’ mentality.