[ad_1]
A combination of goalkeeper errors and what appears to be a nervous defense caused Amakhosi to fall heavily to the Brazilians.
Kaizer Chiefs coach Gavin acknowledged that his team’s biggest “problem” is defense, as his team fell 3-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns in Saturday’s Premier Soccer League opener at the FNB Stadium.
In his first league game for the Chiefs, Hunt started the center-back pair of Ramahlwe Mphahlele and Daniel Cardoso, while Reeve Frosler and Yagan Sasman operated as full-backs, with Willard Katsande as defensive liaison.
Amakhosi’s coach could be increasingly concerned about his bottom line as the Chiefs have conceded four goals in two games following a 2-1 MTN8 win over Maritzburg United the previous weekend.
Against Sundowns, the Chiefs defense allowed Peter Shalulile to finish off the Brazilians’ first goal from a corner kick, before allowing Kermit Erasmus a free kick inside the box with four defenders in front of him to make it 2-0.
Itumeleng Khune, on the other hand, went off his line more often and nearly gave Sundowns a goal, but had Mphahlele to thank for desperately clearing Shalulile’s balloon.
It was an untimely intervention by Khune that brought down George Maluleka inside the box and saw Themba Zwane convert the resulting penalty to complete an unfortunate afternoon for Amakhosi.
Hunt, whose team is banned by FIFA from signing players, also noted that the huge quality gap between his team and Sundowns has cost his team.
“Obviously it doesn’t look good. If you look at the whole game, we had good chances too, ”Hunt said. SuperSport TV.
“But we have to defend better if we know where the problems are. I know the problems from day one. But it is what it is. We ended up with six boys from the academy on the field. We have to start building, we have to start planning somewhere against a team that has invested heavily in their squad.
“As you can see, just look at your bench and that’s what you’re dealing with. So we just have to dust ourselves off and go back. I think we created some good opportunities, but like I said, defensively, we left a lot to be desired ”.
The Chiefs visit Chippa United for their next game Tuesday as they look to bounce back from the Downs’ setback.
As for Sundowns, the trio of coaches of Manqoba Mngqithi, Rhulani Mokwena and Steve Komphela brushed off criticism of MTN8’s elimination the previous weekend against Bloemfontein Celtic.
Despite a compelling demonstration against Chiefs, Mngqithi feels they could have won by a wider margin as he demanded more of his charges.
“You are happy to have cleared a clean sheet first. Although at times it seemed like we wanted to give them something, ”Mngqithi said.
“But I also think we could have scored more goals. We missed too many opportunities. Sometimes in soccer, when the game allows you to score more, you have to score more because you don’t know what is going to happen next.
“But the game was a bit difficult. It was never really smooth as one would have wanted, especially when you’ve taken a comfortable lead and expect to have a little more possession, a little better penetration.
“But we play in patches and we still have to really improve in that aspect because our personality as a great team should be trying to dominate the games and not only look for goals but also dominate possession, dominate duels, dominate penetration and to dominate the field in general in terms of our width and depth.
“From time to time I felt like we did a lot of things well, especially in the first half. Structurally we made it difficult for them to identify what we were trying to do. It caused a lot of confusion for Parker and Reeve Frosler. They couldn’t find Themba Zwane. It made our lives a little better. But I don’t think we were clinical enough. “
Sundowns are now preparing to host Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila in Pretoria in their next match on Wednesday.
