Chiefs & Pirates have no identity

‘Pirates’biggest problem is Zinnbauer’ ‘Sundowns is not on top of their game’

“THE WORST THING IS THAT THEY DON’T EVEN SHOW THAT THEY RESPECT THE JERSEY ANYMORE.”

With a few months to ggo before the end of the season,, Ma Sundowns are flexing their muscles at the top of the log while newly-promoted Swallows FC’s performance has caught many people by surprise. But our Secret Footballer believes fans should be more concerned about loss of identity at Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, rather than celebrating Sundowns’ success.

Losing a Nedbank Cup match against GladAfrica Championship side Richards Bay last month made it very clear that Kaizer Chiefs is not the same as it was a few years ago. Whenever they are in action now, opponents feel like they are playing against any other team, there is no difference between them and the rest of the League.

But the real problem started when Stuart Baxter took over as coach; his playing philosophy was just skop die ball voor [kick the ball forward]. Steve Komphela, who took over from him, was not a bad coach, but he took over team where a top goalscorer was a defender.

I’m talking about Tefu Mashamaite and Mulomondau Mathoho – that was just a disaster. They were using counter-attacks and Chiefs is not the type of a team that does that.

Now there is no difference between Chiefs and other teams in the league. Their players are ordinary, and the worst thing is that they don’t even show that they respect the jersey anymore. Forget about the fact that they are ordinary, they are not fighting as well.

Most guys that Baxter brought in were already in their late 20s and that is why they didn’t last long in the team. When Ernst Middendorp and Giovanni Solinas joined later, they both continued in the same path that Baxter took.

Everything we are witnessing now started more than six years ago and it’s very sad. When the team was winning, ask yourself, how was the team getting those victories?

Orlando Pirates also have identity problems. But to be fair to them, most players they brought are good footballers, the majority of them deserve to be playing for Pirates. It’s only a few players that don’t deserve to be there.

But Pirates’ biggest problem is coach Jozef Zinnbauer. In the past there were players like Benedict Vilakazi, Joseph Makhanya, Lebogang Mokoena and the late Gift Leremi, those players came from the club development, that is what made them unique and special. And now they don’t have that.

There are lots of agents who speak highly of their players but when they join Pirates or Chiefs, not much really happens.

When Augusto Palacios started his academy, I’m sure he realized that his players at Pirates were not being promoted anymore, agents were taking over. That is how Palacios lost interest in the club.

Zinnbauer came to Pirates and most teams he coached before struggled. When he failed to win the league last season, no-one really paid attention to his problems because everyone was looking at Kaizer Chiefs.

Pirates had the chance to win the league too, that is the honest truth. There was a time last season where, if they had won a few matches, they would have overtaken Chiefs, but they didn’t. They drew too many games and their team was also not balanced.

The funny thing is, Zinnbauer is still continuing with the same mistakes he made last season – nothing has changed.

The development of both Chiefs and Pirates before was the foundation of them, it was the base of them. All the players who were brought in from outside, were brought in to make that base stronger.

Yes, Chiefs have promoted some youngsters, but the truth is they have been a bit lucky this season with some of the games they have won. They are way too predictable. They are pumping the ball to Samir Nurkovic and teams have now caught onto that now.

Mamelodi Sundowns is not really on top of their game, but the fact that they are winning tells you a lot about the standard of South African football. Yes, they have a good development and are signing big-name players, but the truth is they are not really doing as well as they should.

They have the same philosophy as when Pitso Mosimane was there and their youth teams are playing the same way as their first team – they are not at their best level that we know but they are producing.

Swallows FC, coming from the GladAfrica Championship to be playing the way they are doing is great. Cape Town City have also impressed.

But like I said, Chiefs and Pirates have lost their identity, that should raise many people’s eyebrows.