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The incoming Glamor Boys coach believes the Zimbabwean international should enter double figures in front of goal this season
If Kaizer Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt can get Khama Billiat back on full-blast shooting, it would be almost as good as signing a new player.
Which could prove especially important if the Chiefs fail to lift FIFA’s transfer ban and is particularly crucial at this point in light of the injuries to Samir Nurkovic and Leonardo Castro.
Billiat was a shadow of his usual self last season and the three league goals he scored were his worst comeback since he reached the Premier Soccer League (PSL) as a youngster at Ajax Cape Town a decade ago.
He didn’t even score in cup competitions and, in fact, his eight-goal league tally in two seasons with Chiefs equaled the number of goals he scored in his last campaign with Mamelodi Sundowns in the 2017/18 season.
Such was the Zimbabwean’s loss of form last season that there was constant speculation, not helped by some of the comments from Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane about the player that he wanted to return to the Brazilians.
Perhaps ironically or even cruelly, when Billiat finally showed a flowering of form, with two goals in the last two games of the season for the Chiefs, it came too late when Masandawana snatched the league title from the Soweto giants.
We may never really know what was holding the Zimbabwean back, be it because of the tactics, the training of former coach Ernst Middendorp or perhaps an uneasy relationship between the two.
Now, with Hunt replacing Middendorp, Billiat could have a chance to reclaim his former glories and become once again the match winner and game changer that he has proven to be over the years.
And the good news for Amakhosi fans is that Hunt is eager to work with the player and bring out the best in him.
“I think the most important thing I have to do or have to do is to start making him play to his strengths,” Hunt said at a press conference ahead of the Chiefs’ MTN8 clash with Maritzburg United on Sunday, according to reports. appointment. by the Sowetan.
“Where we can get the best of him.
“And that’s all I’m going to try to do. Whatever he needs. Support, extra work. If he’s willing, and I think he’s willing, I think he still has great potential.”
As Hunt rightly points out, a happy Billiat and in song could be the difference between finishing second or winning the silver medal, something the club has not accomplished for half a decade.
“I don’t want to know what has happened here before,” said the coach. “It has nothing to do with me.
“I just want to see what’s in front of me and I hope we can catch it. He’s certainly a double-digit scorer in the league, and that should be the first goal.
“If he does his part, the rest can do ours, and then we succeed.”
