‘You could see today he was one of our best players,’ admitted co-head coach Khalil Ben Youssef.
Kaizer Chiefs co-head coach Khalil Ben Youssef claims Ethan Chislett’s late arrival in the Amakhosi team was simply because the attacking midfielder was not ready to play for seven months.
Chislett’s long-awaited Chiefs debut
The 27 year-old Chislett, who signed for Chiefs in July, made his debut on Tuesday at FNB Stadium in their 2-1 Betway Premiership loss at home to Stellenbosch.
ALSO READ: Ben Youssef apologises to Chiefs fans after Stellies loss
It was a disappointing result for Chiefs, but Chislett had a good game, with some incisive passing and one first half shot that was well saved by Stellies ‘keeper Sage Stephens.
Chiefs have given cryptic responses all season to why they have not been using Chislett and left-back Nkanyiso Shinga. Shinga has still not played a minute for Chiefs since joining at the beginning of the campaign.
Clearly angry at his side’s result after the Stellies game, Ben Youssef was terse when asked about Chislett’s extended absence.
“To be good like he was today,” said Ben Youssef.
“We took seven month to introduce him at his best moment. You could see today he was one of our best players.”
Amakhosi took a first half lead through Flavio Da Silva, but Gavin Hunt’s Stellies turned the game around in the second half with strikes from Langelihle Phili and Devin Titus.
Title challenge over?
The result was a massive blow to Chiefs’ hopes of challenging Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns for the league title. Amakhosi now trail both Pirates and Sundowns by eight points.
They have a chance to narrow the gap to the Buccaneers in Saturday’s Soweto derby at FNB Stadium, but will need to perform far better than this.
Chiefs made a quadruple substitution in the second half against Stellies in the 70th minute. Mduduzi Shabalala, Wandile Dube, Mfundo Vilakazi and Thabo Cele all came on, but none had a discernible impact.
ALSO READ: Chiefs title hopes hit by Stellies comeback win
“There is no right or wrong substitution, the player makes it right or wrong,” added Ben Youssef.
“If their performance is not good the substitution is not right. After the game everyone can analyse.
“The players from the bench did not give the best performances and … we have to analyse why not.”
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