Komphela loving his tight defence
JOHANNESBURG: Steve Komphela may invite unwanted criticism by declaring that he was delighted with a clean sheet following the goalless draw against Orlando Pirates in the Soweto derby at the weekend, but it’s easy to understand why the Kaizer Chiefs coach singled out his defenders for being able to keep it tight at the back.
While Amakhosi were not the worst team in the PSL in terms of goals conceded last season, they were admittedly quite awful for defending champions – averaging a goal conceded in every match. It’s still some way to go before the end of this season, but Chiefs unbeaten run, which stretched to six matches following Saturday’s stalemate, suggests that Komphela has the found the leak and quickly patched it up.
“A lot of the goals we conceded last season were from set-pieces. We never defended well and as a result we just conceded,” Komphela explained. “You could not understand last season why this was happening because Chiefs was one of the strongest teams when it came to defending set-pieces. But obviously when you come in as the (new) coach, you come in with your own way of defending.”
The “new” way was costing Komphela and his team, and the departure of captain Tefu Mashamaite was highlighted as the coach chopped and changed his back four in search of a suitable partner for Eric Mathoho. It seems like Komphela has finally found that man, in the form of Lorenzo Gordinho.
“The defenders used zonal marking, but now had to adjust to man marking,” said Komphela.
“Every team wants to keep a clean sheet. Every goalkeeper wants that as well and I get judged on the number of clean sheets to get a Bafana call-up,” said Chiefs goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune. “It takes a lot of communication to get this right and I have been working with my back four for a very long time and we’ve got that understanding. We always tell ourselves that we shouldn’t concede early. For us, it’s important to keep it clean at the back and let the strikers take the responsibility to score goals.”
Top-of-the-log Chiefs host Baroka FC at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Wednesday night, and will be confident that their unbeaten run can continue against the PSL rookies. However, like Khune pointed out, the forwards need to pitch in.