30 July 2019, by: Grant de Smidt

KAIZER CHIEFS PSL 2019/2020 PREVIEW

Kaizer Chiefs enter the 50th year of their existence on a four-season trophy drought. There are several interesting tactical decisions and innovations expected from Ernst Middendorp this season but will results follow?

*Realistic options to play regularly – excludes fringe players

*Accurate up to 29 July

Kaizer Chiefs promised an overhaul of their underperforming squad, but have simply offloaded some barely-used squad players and brought in just four new signings. None of them are proven in the PSL and two played in leagues outside Africa.

There is no real reason to believe that they will transform the side next season although Lazarous Kambole, a R3 million addition, looks exciting. Teenage Hadebe, a regular selection by Ernst Middendorp for all of the big games, was sold to Turkish club, Yeni Malatyaspor. No replacement has been brought in with the money received. As it stands, Amakhosi have one too many foreign players, so Leonardo Castro and Dax are being linked with an exit.

After the side’s very poor end to the season, finishing in ninth place and losing the Nedbank Cup final, many supporters called for the coach to lose his job. It was a recent as April that Pitso Mosimane effusively praised the German coach:

“It’s highly tactical. It’s unbelievable‚ the tactics. He plays his own way. He’s brave. He is bringing in the youngsters and they are coming up. I think Chiefs are a team to watch next year.”

In Middendorp’s first six PSL matches in charge, he encountered Pirates, Sundowns, SuperSport, Wits and Cape Town City. Without Itumeleng Khune, two of those matches were lost late due to Virgil Vries howlers after relatively strong performances.

At the nine-game mark, the coach was picking up 1.88 points per game – title-challenging form. So what happened since then? Simply, the goals dried up. The coach was focusing on the Nedbank Cup and rotating his side religiously, with any players close to suspension left out of league games.

Khama Billiat missed games due to injury, and Hendrick Ekstein was frozen out and then released when playing a big role for the first time.

The coach’s preferred style is one where Chiefs look to press teams high and disrupt their build-up play and force them into long balls. Athletic players who can press and affect the game in both transitional phases are what the coach wants.

In the squad, not many players can do that so previously fringe players like Dax and Hendrick Ekstein stepped forward to become important men for Middendorp. Both players could be gone next season, leaving Chiefs short of players that suit the coach’s style.

Attackers with pace are favoured over immobile options as Middendorp’s side focus on exploiting space on the counter. When facing teams who sit deep and let Chiefs have most of the ball, his side can’t close down and often struggle to find a way through. This is especially difficult without players who are comfortable playing in tight spaces.

Looking at Chiefs’ squad, it is clear that their player quality is pretty low compared to their rivals. Veterans like Bernard Parker, Erick Mathoho and Willard Katsande are still being relied upon at least two years past their sell-by dates. With Khune missing half of last season, and Lebogang Manyama having two serious injuries as well, there was simply not enough squad depth to cover these losses.

Billiat carried the attack last season, but even his production numbers were very poor in the PSL (five goals in total, just one in his final 15 games) and Chiefs simply cannot rely on one just star attacker to make things happen. The squad has talented players like Siphelele Ntshangase who do not fit the playing style, nor the professionalism demanded by the coach on the training ground.

How many of Amakhosi’s players would start for Sundowns or Pirates? Billiat may start at Sundowns (and has been linked with a return), whilst Khune would probably make it two Chiefs players who would start for Pirates.

Middendorp uses three main formations – a 4-4-2 diamond, 3-5-2 and 4-3-3, though the latter is less regular. These shapes give control and numbers in central midfield and the midfield diamond, in particular, is ideal for pressing high up the pitch.

Beyond the shape of the team, Middendorp has used man-marking on key opposition players. In the Soweto derby, he had his fullbacks man-mark Thembinkosi Lorch and Vincent Pule on counter-attacks to ensure they got no space to operate. It worked really well and Bucs needed a late equaliser to avoid defeat.

In all of the systems, Billiat was given license to play high up the pitch, usually in the left half-space. Parker ordinarily fulfilled the same role on the right, leaving no space for Castro, or a role that simply did not suit him. Kambole will increase options but is not a frontline striker for a 4-3-3 formation and should challenge Parker for his spot.

In the screenshot below, Middendorp’s midfield diamond and front two is clear. Both strikers need to work the channels, whilst the fullbacks are tasked with providing width. With the strikers looking to pull the opposition central defenders out the middle, space opens up for midfielders to arrive in scoring positions.

Chiefs’ squad looks very average this season. The addition of Kambole provides pace upfront and Samir Nurkovic brings box presence, but probably only in a 4-3-3 shape as he will have the same issues running the channels as Castro did.

There are question marks at left-back with two inexperience options there, in central defence after Hadebe’s sale and certainly in central midfield with Kearyn Baccus and James Kotei both low-cost punts. Katsande is ageing, Maluleka is having regular injury problems, Ekstein was released against the coach’s wishes and Dax could also be on his way out.

If Chiefs are going to have a good season, two things to happen. Firstly, Khune, Billiat and Manyama are going to need to be at around 90% availability as all of the replacements represent major downgrades. They are also going to need to deliver quality performances consistently.

Secondly, Middendorp must pull off some tactical masterstrokes in moving around his plethora of pretty average options to form game-plans that suit different opponents. Although the coach often makes bizarre selections and tends to struggle to get his team scoring goals, he is one of the most interesting tactical coaches in the PSL. It’s no wonder Pitso Mosimane found it difficult to face Middendorp’s team and many other big clubs struggled.

However, the smaller clubs all simply played very defensively and frustrated Chiefs to take draws or smash-and-grab wins. The most likely outcome is that Middendorp simply won’t have the players to deliver on the fans’ ambitions, but don’t expect the next coach to work miracles without better players.

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