Football
Nick Said, Special to ESPN 7y

Komphela blames a number of factors for Chiefs' failings

Kaizer Chiefs coach Steve Komphela says a mixture of injuries, suspensions, fatigue and plain old bad luck cost Kaizer Chiefs this past season, but believes they were an improved side compared to his first campaign in charge.

The Soweto giants finished the campaign without silverware for the second season running and marginally improved their league finish from fifth in 2015/16 to fourth in this campaign.

It has placed the pressure on Komphela to deliver for a club that has never gone three campaigns without winning a trophy in their illustrious 47-year history. He will get that first opportunity in the MTN8 where his side have a tough quarterfinal against SuperSport United, with that match likely to be played in the first week of August.

"By Kaizer Chiefs standards, we didn't do well and failed to meet our objectives," Komphela told his club's website. "However, when it comes to the game model - there was an improvement in the way we played. Not winning a single trophy was definitely not good.

"We are on the right track, playing attractive attacking football with speed, skill, movement and lots of box entries, creating lots of chances. We simply need to win matches because controlling and dominating without winning affects the players' confidence. It also makes our job as coaches very difficult."

Komphela says there is no one reason for their poor return this season, and also refused to put the blame at the door of the players.

"It's a combination of factors, like injuries and suspensions which affects your consistency in selection. As a result, the team's performance gets affected as well. Another consideration is fatigue, either mental or physical. The most obvious was our inability to quickly bounce back after a set-back."

Chiefs were the only side to go through the campaign unbeaten at home, but managed to win just five of their 15 matches on the road, despite almost always enjoying the majority of the support in the stadiums they played in.  

"Those figures are bizarre and awkward. It doesn't make sense that we lost so many points in stadiums where we have the most supporters, with due respect to our home supporters at FNB Stadium. 

"Yes, we didn't lose a single league game at home, but we drew seven which was not good. However, we were also very unlucky at some stages during the season. Look at the matches we gave away.

"After a good start in the Carling Black Label Champion Cup we lost our first game of the season away against Bidvest Wits through a set-play and one moment of bad defending.

"We later lost to Mamelodi Sundowns in Pretoria, despite leading 1-0. After our opening goal, we switched off and froze allowing Sundowns to immediately equalise.

"We should have managed that stage better and, to make matters worse, [Sibusiso] Khumalo left the field injured just when we conceded. Big matches are won or lost on small margins and small details. Later in the match they scored the winner thanks to an own goal.

"There are numerous examples like that: the one-all home draw against SuperSport United, Cape Town City home draw, Orlando Pirates home draw [missing a penalty], Baroka City two-all away draw, Golden Arrows one-all home draw and the 3-2 defeat to Cape Town City.

"The total number of points we unnecessarily lost in matches is 18. Add that to the number of points we finished with and we could have won the league."

Komphela does also blame a lack of a goal-scoring striker in the campaign, though he hopes the Venezuelan Gustavo Paez can become that in the new season.

"Our goals were spread evenly across the final third. There were goals coming from interplay and passes from the centre or wide areas. We did create a lot of chances, so that's not the problem - we even got numerous penalties, which we sometimes missed and, as a result, losing out on points.

"We needed a consistent goalscorer. A case in point is, for example, Siyabonga Nomvete who helped Moroka Swallows to the second spot with his 20 league goals in the 2011/2012 season.

"The same happened with Collins Mbesuma, scoring 25 league goals to help Chiefs win the league title in the 2004/2005 season. That's what we are looking for - a consistent goalscorer."

Komphela would also not be drawn into a promise that next season would provide a different outcome.

^ Back to Top ^