Advice from ex-fan favourite

It’s no secret that, at any team, the players who feel under the most pressure are the fan favourites. They are not allowed off days by the supporters, some of whom come to the stadium solely to feast their eyeball on their magic on the ball. These kinds of players are oftentimes the difference between dropping two points and securing all three, all in a sheer moment of brilliance. How does a player like Khama Billiat bounce back and silence his critics after going quiet for a considerable period? We spoke to former darling of the Amakhosi faithful, Stanton Fredericks, and this is what he had to say…

“I think Khama’s move to Kaizer Chiefs was needed because sometimes most players are not one- team players where they stay at a certain team for too long then tend to fall into a comfort zone. Sometimes change is also good. He might not be the biggest player, but he is one of the players in the PSL that know how to protect the ball. He is not strong, he doesn’t have muscle, but he has the technique on how to protect the ball and his intelligence when it comes to putting himself between defenders is exceptional. So, be that as it may, he moved to Chiefs, it’s a big team, (with) a lot of history, but it is also a team that has been struggling. He came in and there were a lot of expectations thrown on his shoulders. I think when he came ink you could immediately see the difference in the attack and their previous coach, Giovanni Solinas, praised him by even bowing to him because he was the consistent Billiat, he won Man of the Match awards, and he dealt with the pressures easily. Remember that he is an international player for Zimbabwe and he carries the hopes of his country as well. He did well in those matches and credit should be given to him for that. I do, however, think that due to fatigue and a change of coaches, he has now slightly gone off the boil. But it is also a Chiefs team that is currently looking to find their feet with these changes and players coming in and out. He is finding difficulty getting combinations with different players because at times there are a few changes made in the starting line-up. I do think that when he links up with (Leonardo) Castro, he becomes more effective and, if you look at the game over the weekend (against Polokwane City), he wasn’t that effective because there wasn’t a striker for him to play off, you know. So, in my opinion, he has settled in well at Chiefs and, although he might not have been at his best in the last couple of games, his quality is there to see, and he is a massive gain for Chiefs. My advice to him is that in life and in football you have to take the good with the bad because tomorrow when he scores a hat-trick and he is on top of his game, everyone is going to sing his praises. That mental strength that he has and that he deals with at national level, he needs to implement it at Chiefs. I know he has the ability and many others out there know this as well. I think he is one of the best currently playing in the PSL, but again, it comes down to the way that the team utilizes him and uses him to his strengths. That’s where the technical team needs to come in and be smart. They need to get their combinations right and they can only do that starting from the training field.”