Kaizer Chiefs’ big Blom headache...
Njabulo Blom made his Kaizer Chiefs debut in October 2019 as a 19-year-old under coach Ernst Middendorp. The German mentor is famed for placing his faith in young players and selected Blom at right back against Golden Arrows that night. He had a hand in a goal and played 81 minutes in a strong outing. He kept his place against Mamelodi Sundowns for the next match, making a crucial last-man challenge and also a goal-line clearance that afternoon. His first season wasn’t all positive though after a tough cup outing against bitter rivals Orlando Pirates and also being used at left back by Middendorp in a cup semi-final loss to Maritzburg United. He fell out of favour a bit after that, playing just once in the final 23 fixtures of the 2019/20 campaign.
The arrival of coach Gavin Hunt saw Blom really stamp his authority in the Chiefs squad. In a very busy season, the versatile development product appeared in 45 matches, starting 27 of those. From the start of the season, Hunt was a big fan, saying Blom “changed the game” after coming on as a substitute in the MTN8 win over Maritzburg. The Dobsonville-born star took Man of the Match awards against both the Buccaneers and the Brazilians, no mean feat in your first season as a regular. Hunt consistently praised the player, saying after a 2-2 CAF Champions League draw against Horoya in Guinea, “I thought Njabulo again was Man of the Match. He was outstanding; he’s getting better and better in every game. He’ll be one of the future; he’s got legs, he can play, he digs in, unbelievable.”
When Amakhosi went to Morocco and beat Wydad Casablanca 1-0, Blom was outstanding as a shuttler to the right of Willard Katsande. He broke up play, tracked the opposition left back and even got forward to assist Samir Nurkovic’s winning goal. The end of that season saw him get a Bafana Bafana call-up for a friendly against Uganda. Things changed a bit under coach Stuart Baxter, who saw Blom as more of a right back or right wingback. He was a complete mainstay of the side, starting 30 of a possible
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n 23 December 2022, it was announced that Njabulo Blom would join new MLS club St Louis City SC to play under Bradley Carnell. The versatile midfielder or right back was entering the final six months of his Kaizer Chiefs contract and there was talk 32 matches that season and contributing plenty of assists (six in total) with his delivery from wide. He had a couple of outings in midfield during the COVID19 breakout in December when coach Arthur Zwane had taken temporary charge of the team with Baxter isolating at home.
This campaign has been a mixed one for Blom, amid regular talk of a transfer or signing a pre-contract elsewhere in January. In the season opener, he had a tough outing down the right against Royal AM winger Khethukuthula Ndlovu, leading to him being dropped against the Team of Choice. Zwane didn’t mince his words about that decision, saying, “When it comes of a possible renewal, while other reports had it that he was set for a shock switch to Mamelodi Sundowns. Instead, the 23-year-old signed a twoyear contract with a two-year option in the United States of America. How much will the Soweto giants miss Blom? to Njabulo, he knows very well that he had a terrible game by his standards. If he doesn’t perform, more especially in his position as right back, there is Reeve (Frosler), there is (Dillan) Solomons who did very well today, so he must up his game.”
Blom started just one of the next seven matches and that was with Frosler covering at left back. The return of Sifiso Hlanti had the potential to push him down to third-choice right back. He started eight successive games as the holding midfielder afterwards, freeing up Yusuf Maart to play further forward. One could argue that decision changed the course of Kaizer Chiefs’ season.
From this basic data, we can get a look at how Amakhosi did in the first eight matches this season, where Blom was used primarily at right back (or as a substitute) versus the eight matches he started in central midfield. The first thing we can see is that the side got much better results after the head coach made that change. They won four and were beaten just once in eight matches with Blom anchoring the engine room. The Soweto giants scored double the number of goals and produced far, far more chances as shown by the Expected Goals figures. They also had more ball possession. Although Chiefs didn’t improve much defensively, Blom’s presence allowed ‘10111’ to play a more attacking, progressive style and we saw Keagan Dolly’s form improve massively with him not being asked to drop deep as often.
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ander, and we gave the young man the opportunity, he grabbed it with both hands. We’re happy for him. As you said, we’ll make sure that we keep him grounded and focused. So far, so good, he’s doing very well for himself.”