Wh y are th ey fumbling th eir ch ances?

Listen, if you still have players who make the kind of mistakes the likes of Siyabonga Ngezana and Bruce Bvuma made, in such big games like that, then it says a lot about the lack of experience in the team. Sundowns’ quality and experience showed up yet again against a whole lot of inexperienced Chiefs players. When you play a team of Sundowns’ calibre and depend on two people, Khama Billiat and Keagan Dolly, for experience, then it won’t work. You need to have a team that can match Sundowns pound-for-pound in each department. I mean, (Gaston) Sirino is, himself, four Chiefs players in one! Chiefs need thinking players like him, who, before he can even make the run, has already finished everything. Chiefs don’t have fast players to match Sundowns’ style. The win over Maritzburg United gave people false hope. But look here, these were two teams who are on the same level, hence the game looked to be entertaining. Maritzburg are dead as well, and for a big team like Chiefs, they weren’t that better off than Maritzburg. The latter’s inexperience cost them against Chiefs. When it came to where it mattered the most for Chiefs, they failed dismally. All those stupid mistakes in front of your goal area shows inexperience. If you tell me they are experienced because they’ve been at Chiefs for two to three seasons, then it means they are not good enough. If your experienced players are the ones blundering, then you have a problem. They are supposed to be carrying the team now, but they are struggling. The pressure is huge on them now because they only have two options, to win or draw their next game. They can’t afford to lose right now.

On prospects of winning th e league

Chiefs didn’t sign quality players, in my view. They can be quality for the future, not for now. I don’t see something happening right now, to be honest, because those boys still need a season or two to gel into the Chiefs system. I feel sorry for those youngsters who’ve just come in because they are coming into very deep problems whereby instead of enjoying themselves and gelling into the team gradually, they are now expected to end the team’s drought. It’s still early for them to carry the Chiefs ship on their shoulders. I hope they won’t break down. For now, it’s a zero from me. I don’t know what Arthur (Zwane) was thinking. He was supposed to sign more quality players. They need to sign strikers. They need a perfect number nine, someone in the build of my former Qwa-Qwa Stars teammate Bunene Ngaduane. What a complete striker he was. They need the type of Pollen Ndlanya, a mature striker who knows what he’s doing. They need to buy a Mohammed Ouseb type of centre-back – tough and intelligent. Then add two more like Patrick

Mabedi and Neil Tovey… modern ones with that same quality, they will be stable. They need more maturity and less youngsters. Remember, there’s that new league in Africa that they might take part in, and with the quality of players they have, I don’t think they will succeed there. They are failing to succeed locally, on the continent it will be a huge ask. They are failing to win three games in a row and I don’t think Chiefs will win the league. They are not consistent and that’s what wins you the league. Sundowns will still dominate for some time. Do you think Sundowns can lose three games in a row? Never. Do you think they can win three games in a row? Absolutely. They will lose some games yes, but they will win the league again because their players are consistent performers. There’s a lot that needs to be done at Chiefs. Management needs to do something because the team isn’t promising that they will achieve something soon. Just to see that direction that, at least, we are going somewhere. For me, it’s still the same as two years back.

On Zwane so far

I don’t want to be caught saying this, but to tell the truth, Chiefs rushed their coaching department decisions. They rushed into the decision of Arthur and I don’t think he was ready just yet. For me, they should have kept him to assist someone, or even let him go to smaller teams like your TS Galaxy just to gain more experience, then come back to take up the big job at Chiefs. Remember, if you don’t do well at Chiefs, your CV gets damaged and clubs ask themselves a lot of questions.

On Kh une’s situation

Goalkeepers can go up to 40 to 45 years playing, right? So, for me, Khune still has some years ahead of him. The question now is, can he still get back to his old form? Will he be the same Khune we know? It seems he’s failing to get that form back and that’s a problem. He might get it back and he might not, and once he can pull himself out of that hole, he still has a couple more seasons to play. And he mustn’t come in and try to do all the spectacular things he was doing before. This would be the time for him to come in and stabilise his career and the team. Age has caught up and now there’s no time to be fancy anymore. But as far as experience goes, he’s obviously far ahead of the boy playing now, Bvuma. It’s a difficult situation he finds himself in. But I don’t understand why these guys playing ahead of him aren’t using the opportunity given to their advantage. Once an on-form Khune gets back, they know they will sit out for the whole year, so why are they fumbling their chances? Bvuma can’t be called a youngster anymore, he’s been at Chiefs for a while now and should have learnt enough from Khune. That’s why now you’ll find fans, even Khune himself, feeling that he should be given another chance because he’s not been fully challenged, if we are honest.

On Billiat’s form

Khama hasn’t been the Khama we know since he joined Chiefs. He can’t carry a big team like Chiefs alone. From how I see it, I think it has to do with the quality of players around him… they are not helping his type of play. Without good supply, it’s difficult for him. Just take Peter Shalulile – he’s not the most skilful striker, but he’s got quality around him who feeds him the right balls. They make his job easy so he can just put the ball in the net. If you can take Shalulile now and put him at Chiefs, you’ll ask yourself if he’s the same player scoring week in and week out at Sundowns. That’s why Billiat was shining at Sundowns and he hasn’t played real football since he joined Chiefs. He needs quality to shelve the pressure off him.

Th is week we h ear from Robson Much ich wa – Former Kaiz er Ch iefs utility player

On Pirates’ progress

I don’t want to lie, I haven’t seen anything to write home about as far as Pirates is concerned. They are not moving. I’m yet to see something wow from them so far this season. Pirates and Chiefs are like a stuck train, to be honest. It’s like they are stuck in the middle of nowhere and need someone to come save them and I don’t know where that man is going to come from.

Robson Muchichwa, Former Kaizer Chiefs utility player