Zwane Discusses Challenges Faced Against Ten Men

Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has admitted that his side’s inability to capitalise on having an extra man is a worrying factor. This comes after Amakhosi were held to a goalless draw by TS Galaxy in a league game, in early February, who had a man sent off early in the second stanza. Chiefs also struggled to break down Maritzburg United in the Nedbank Cup, who were playing with ten men from the first stanza and only broke the deadlock in extra-time to finally win 2-0. Against Pirates in the Soweto Derby, the Glamour Boys seemed to struggle to manage an extra player after Innocent Maela was red-carded on the hour-mark before an own goal by Olisa Ndah in the dying minutes gave them a 1-0 win.

Zwane admitted that their inability to break down teams playing with ten men is a worrying factor. “It’s really not (difficult to manage an extra man) but I think it is obviously worrying me a bit, I don’t know why but even at some point at training we tried to have those kind of functional or sessions or drills just to make sure that we exploit the space at the right time,” Zwane said in a press conference.

The head coach suggested that although not creating chances against ten men is something they need to improve on, they also deserve credit for forcing the opposition to make mistakes that leads to them playing with a man down. “I think at some point we were not joining quickly enough when they had the ball and we only looked dangerous when we playing the ball behind but playing the ball in front of them so that we can join quickly and have combination play and create goalscoring opportunities, that’s one aspect that we need to improve on,” he said.

Zwane continued and suggested that Chiefs should pile more pressure on the opposition when they are one man down. “But having said that, when you look at all the teams that end up playing with one man down is because of the pressure that we put on them and force them to make mistakes, so obviously it’s a case of mindset. We have to keep on doing it when they are one man down, let’s pile more pressure on them, let’s not take the foot off the pedal. Let’s force them to make more mistakes and create goalscoring opportunities and capitalize,” he added.