Khune is a leader, but more needed at Chiefs

Kaizer Chiefs’ players need to be focused and not only rely on Itumeleng Khune for leadership on the field. When they defend corner kicks, Khune will always be the visible one in terms of emphasising the issue of always switching on.

Up the field, we don’t see a leader who will make sure he keeps his team-mates switched on at all times. It doesn’t always have to be the coach who says let’s lock up the game. They were winning against Bidvest Wits, but let it slip in the last minute. Senior players like Willard Katsande are playing good football in terms of marking their opponents, but as for leadership, they seem to be falling very short.

It doesn’t mean that if one player is the captain then he is responsible for the entire team. For instance, the defenders need to have their captain, the same applies to the midfielders and the strikers. Every department must have a leader.

We saw this happening a lot last season where Chiefs couldn’t defend their leads. They always focus on scoring and getting more goals instead of closing up shop and locking up the game. If they are to turn their fortunes around this season, this is one issue they will need to address quickly and this needs to addressed internally. Some of the players in the league just go out in public and sort of lambast the team, and that might end up hurting the entire team.

I always encourage all leaders in football to address their issues internally so that the different personalities and characters cannot be exposed in the public domain. For instance, there are certain players who, when you shout at them, break down. You need to do it in a conducive environment. This also goes about in protecting the integrity of the players and the club they represent.

Moving to the Caf Champions League and the Confederation Cup, I was impressed by the results of both Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United after 1-0 and 0-0 results respectively.

However, the return legs are going to be very difficult assignments for both teams this weekend. On the side of Sundowns, the beauty about it is that the coach is aware of the challenge and the strengths of the team they are up against.

Another positive is that Sundowns, as defending champions, have the experience now and they know how to adapt and handle such situations.

It will be a very difficult game, even though they are leading. The opponents will deploy all sorts of tricks in the book in an attempt to destabilise them. I expect the conditions to be hostile. As for

Sundowns, I believe they are psychologically ready, they just need to be organised and stick to their game plan.

Coming to SuperSport, they are playing quite a formidable team who have plenty of African experience under their belt.

I really don’t see much of a challenge for them regarding hostility away from home because Zambia is almost like South Africa. The ball is very much in SuperSport’s court.

They need to prepare for this game thoroughly because we saw how dangerous Zesco can be last year when they played Sundowns in the Champions League semifinals.

They are a well-oiled team, we saw how they defend and attack in unison. They are tactically and individually brilliant.