CHIEFS BACK IN TUNE FOR NEXT STANZA

Break gives Amakhosi chance to iron out kinks

THE six-week break has given Kaizer Chiefs further opportunity to work on the positives that saw them end last year on a high‚ and to iron out the kinks that plagued them preceding that period‚ Amakhosi captain Itumeleng Khune says.

With all the uncertainty that plagued Chiefs at the start of 2016-17‚ the unconvincing performances and cup failures‚ just a point separates fourth-placed Amakhosi from Premier League leaders SuperSport United.

They finished with two strong wins, against Polokwane City (3-2) at home and then Golden Arrows (2-0) away‚ suggesting perhaps finally Amakhosi were clicking under embattled coach Steve Komphela.

Khune said with time to work on deficiencies in the Christmas and Africa Cup of Nations break‚ and the arrival of an unknown quantity striker in Gustavo Paez in the transfer window‚ Chiefs could challenge for the title from a decent league position.

He said a win against Free State Stars in their first match back at the FNB Stadium on Tuesday would go a long way in restoring their late-2016 impetus.

“We want to start the season the way we ended 2016, so it’s vital that every match we play‚ we play to win‚” Khune said.

“In the first round, we struggled to win matches we should have. We kept on drawing.

“But now we’ve had a chance to work on a lot of things. Things like finishing – something we were lacking. But our strikers came back with the right frame of mind‚ and you can see they’re eager and hungry to score more goals.

“Because if you look at the scoring charts‚ none of our strikers is there. Our top scorers are a defender‚ Lorenzo Gordinho‚ and [winger] George Lebese.

“So we really need to pull up our socks going into the second half of the season.” Paez has arrived with a questionable record.

Only his first few matches will give an indication of whether the Venezuelan is more than the sum of the parts of a journeyman career that has spanned Slovenia and the Spanish and Italian lower leagues.

“Everyone is impressed with him. He’s very mobile‚ he’s hungry in front of goal‚” Khune said.

“It’s a new dimension to the team. He will really help us in scoring. But he will also push other strikers into scoring.”

We really need to pull up our socks going into the second half of the season