Up to this point, Kaizer Chiefs’ season has been an absolute scientific model of inconsistency.
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Five games in, their record reads LWLWL. If Arthur Zwane’s footballing rollercoaster carries on exactly like this, Chiefs would end up with 45 points from 30 DStv Premiership matches (15 wins, 15 losses), which would actually leave them only two points worse off than last season.
The obvious draw from this is that Zwane cannot be blamed for a sudden erratic nature in Chiefs’ performances – it has been like this, one could argue, for most of seven trophyless seasons and counting, bar a run at the league title under Ernst Middendorp, and perhaps a surge to the Champions League final in 2021.
Zwane-ball
The latest incarnation of Amakhosi has been branded Zwane-ball, in line with a vaguely irritating sporting trend to put ‘ball’ on the end of any coach’s style of play.
You have Baz-ball in England cricket, stomped all over by the Proteas in the first Test, Tuchel-ball at Chelsea which didn’t exactly go well against Leeds on Sunday and Zwane-ball, which ended with Cape Town City’s first DStv Premiership win of the season on Tuesday.
Zwane-ball speaks of a craving at Amakhosi to get back to the glamour days of old, to win silverware but also to do so in style. All the fluid passing in the world, however, can’t help if you defend as poorly as Chiefs have at times in their five league matches thus far.
There was Siyabonga Ngezana’s comical error against Mamelodi Sundowns in a 4-0 hammering by the champions that gave a clear indication of how far Chiefs still have to go.
And on Tuesday, there was more sloppy defending that allowed City’s two goalscorers to finish without a challenge in sight.
Son-of-the-soil
There is clearly an extra dose of goodwill for Soweto son-of-the-soil and former Amakhosi wing-wizard Zwane to succeed, and there have been some promising signs, in the 3-0 win over Maritzburg and in the grit shown in the 1-0 victory over Richard Bay on the weekend.
Overall, however, deep-rooted problems remain, and it is hard to see anything other than a season full of ups-and-downs for Chiefs, with their supporters ending the campaign feeling decidedly sea-sick.
