Komphela’s stats point to exit signs

It was never going to be easy. The Glamour Boys were defending league and MTN8 champions when then Maritzburg United coach Steve Komphela was handed the reins, taking over a club with 71 trophies in its cabinet – a number that has not increased in the two years he has spent at Naturena. And that is simply not good enough for South Africa’s mostloved, best-supported and most successful club. A season’s grace was begrudgingly bearable, yet a second trophlyess campaign, and the manner in which it occurred, has raised the voices of disgruntled fans calling for Komphela’s head.

Chiefs scraped into the top

four this season, ending ten points behind champions Bidvest Wits – a hardly commendable achievement. The Soweto giants blew hot and cold in distinct patches over the past year: they couldn’t find a victory in eight games played between October and December, before looking a much-improved outfit in a 13-match unbeaten run until April, which was then followed by a six-match winless streak. In that first forgettable block, Komphela persisted with new signing Michelle Katsvairo, starting the Zimbabwean in seven of those eight games, reaping just one assist as a reward. The last of those eight matches, played on December 14, was the last appearance Katsvairo made all season. What took Steve so long to notice the player’s ineffectiveness? In contrast, Bernard Parker – Chiefs’ top goal-getter in the league two seasons ago – started on the bench in seven of those eight games. Following the December 14 goalless draw against Bloemfontein Celtic, Parker scored three goals in Chiefs’ next three games. In the club’s six-match struggle across April and May, the Glamour Boys conceded in stoppage time in three consecutive games, resulting in a costly seven points lost. You’d think they would have learnt from the first game in which it happened. Yes, Komphela himself is not a player on the pitch, but informed substitutions, tactical astuteness and mental concentration beyond 90 minutes are aspects a coach is paid to instil in his charges. Chiefs scored the opening goal in 18 of their 30 league games this past season, with five of those encounters ending in a draw and two in a loss – 16 valuable points in the pocket that were donated to their opponents.

A closer look at red-flagged

numbers across the campaign reveal that very bikini Komphela was speaking about was bursting at the seams. A blunt strikeforce – the club’s topscorer was veteran Siphiwe Tshabalala with seven league strikes – produced just 39 goals in 30 league matches, an average of 1.30 goals per match. An average of 11.7 shots at goal were taken per match, the 5th-worst of all 16 teams in the Absa Premiership, with a shooting accuracy of 30.6-percent – only one in every three shots taken was on target. The team made an average of 467 passes per game, yet only 17-percent of those were made in the final third – a percentage bettered by 10 teams in the division. And a more telling stat: just two goals were scored in the 15 minutes after the half-time interval across the entire season – the worst of all teams in the top-flight. The numbers merely reinforce what many an unhappy Chiefs fan has noticed this season, that the only man in power to enforce decisive changes failed to do so. The last statement could be the most worrying, as Komphela failed to instil in his troops the necessary game-plan or tactical change immediately after having the opportunity to address them at half-time.

Kaizer Motaung candidly said

in an interview that Komphela had the necessary resources to get the job done this season, with the coach himself dancing along to his boss’s recommendations earlier in the campaign. Yet two consecutive years without silverware for the Glamour Boys is unheard of. “There’s matches where we gave it away on the last kick, lapses of concentration, missing penalties … a whole lot of mistakes,” Komphela said on the final day of the season. “But as a coach, you cannot highlight those as they come across as excuses. You own up, you put up and you put it on your chest and move on.” Later in the very same interview, he said, “I hope we’ve learned lessons this season.” It sounds like the same tune as last year, with Komphela failing to learn from those very lessons this season. Chelsea finished tenth in the league last season, yet with almost the same playing personnel, they lifted this year’s Premier League trophy. What changed? The coach. Komphela’s league record as Kaizer Chiefs coach reads 24 wins from 60 games – a win percentage of just 40-percent. He arrived at Naturena without a single title as a coach to his name, and might just leave with his CV just as empty. That bikini Komphela made so famous has been stretched to its limit, and is not fitting quite as snug anymore.

JUST TWO GOALS WERE SCORED IN THE 15 MINUTES AFTER THE HALF-TIME INTERVAL ACROSS THE ENTIRE SEASON – THE WORST OF ALL TEAMS IN THE TOP-FLIGHT.