Short term vs long term

Baxter had a long pre-season with Chiefs last year and achieved decent results in a very strong mid-season run. This is despite having nine new players to bed into the set-up, many of whom he didn’t sign or didn’t know before arriving (such as Njabulo Ngcobo). We knew Baxter could coach a side to win big matches with minimal ball possession and so it proved. As Soccer Laduma pondered a year ago, Baxter came back to Chiefs for a good time, not for a long time. In the end, neither proved true! He didn’t come across as a coach who could work with a Sporting Director or be dictated to by fans or the board over playing style. Zwane was appointed to make the Glamour Boys more attacking and better to watch – it is early days, but he has certainly done that. Unfortunately, this has led to conceding more goals with some defensive howlers to blame, but also an issue defending set-plays and crosses. Going forward, Chiefs are hugely improved in the numbers that they are producing and had they not conceded an 89th minute own goal vs Chippa, they would have gone into the World Cup break on an eightmatch undefeated run in the DStv Premiership. Even one loss in that streak shows progress, whilst they should have scored about seven more goals based on the quality of their chances created using the Expected Goals methodology. When it comes down to it, Baxter was thinking short-term by playing the old guard, signing an older player like Alexander and being pragmatic to get results in the here-and-now. Zwane is looking to integrate younger players and he doesn’t usually change style of play a great deal from week to week, nor does he focus purely on just the next result. It’s not all rainbows and butterflies, and things can turn negative quite quickly in the PSL, but Zwane will go into the break as a relatively satisfied coach… and the stats prove that.