Summary: Johnson has work to do

This brief study shows what we probably already know: Chiefs lack a ruthless finisher and have also been lacking enough creativity in the absence of Dolly. To have scored in only five of 10 league fixtures is simply not acceptable. And, in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat away to Arrows, the only goal the side scored came from a lateral freekick and left back Sifiso Hlanti was a long way offside, so the goal should not have counted!

Most of the work on the training ground has to be focused on building chemistry between a more regular front three or front four, having the number eights join the attack, and cutting out schoolboy errors at the back. The biggest issue is the quality of attacking combination play, where you hardly see effective rotations, link-up play, underlaps/overlaps or overloads. Until we see clear attacking tactics, the Naturena-based team will continue to fire off desperate shots and struggle to score in more than 50% of their matches.

The main attacking issues in terms of priority reads like a laundry list of problems. Among them is to use Saile on the right, get Dolly a little deeper to provide through balls and to play Du Preez down the middle versus high lines but wide against low blocks. They need to get Potsane to arrive in scoring positions (for perhaps the first time in his career at 30), use Gonzalez or Chivaviro as the nine when Du Preez is out, and lastly, to sometimes play with one of the three genuine number 10s (Mdantsane, Nkosingiphile Ngcobo or Shabalala) instead of always using three of Yusuf Maart, Sibongiseni Mthethwa, Matlou and Castillo at the same time in a negative central midfield trio.