Komphela plagued by pessimists
The definition of success at Chiefs is silverware
STEVE Komphela, Kaizer Chiefs’ first black coach in 21 years, says his doubters are making him weak.
Despite steering Amakhosi to two finals in the space of five months, there are still many who do not believe that he is cut out for the job.
“The only thing that weakens me is the doubt that people have, the questions that they pose.
“You go to a filling station, somebody innocently asks you ‘will you manage?’. Some questions are embedded in history and background.
“They are painful because irrespective of the response, the answer shall never hit home because the question is embedded, it is something that has been institutionalised.”
Explain. “Everytime I say something that needs explaining, the further you explain, the more hurting it would be.
“Let those who understand, understand. Let those who don’t understand, interpret it their own way.
“But those who read must read to understand, those who write must write to be understood.”
So Steve, make them understand why Siyanda Xulu, seen as the marquee signing in the off-season, is on the sidelines.
“Siya had been playing very well. We started the season with him because Tower [Mulomowandau Mathoho] was injured.
“In the central defensive pairing, we had to find a way to work with Xulu and [Lorenzo] Gordinho. At some stage we played him with [Ivan] Bukenya.”
Xulu ruptured his ankle just as Mathoho returned from injury. A Mathoho-Bukenya partnership was born.
“Looking at the kind of opposition we were playing, we played [Mpumalanga Black] Aces twice, they have a [Collins] Mbesuma and Platinum Stars have Eleazar Rodgers, they fitted exactly the bill of those two centre backs we had.”
A horses-for-courses approach informs Komphela’s wisdom of playing midfielder Bukenya as defender.
“I asked him his preferred position and he said centre back,” said Komphela.
“He got in there, played well and even scored crucial goals for us.
“So we felt let’s keep him in his area of comfort, the rest will unfold going forward.
“Xulu is back at training after shaking off the ankle injury,” said Komphela.
“From a technical point of view, Xulu is a top defender with great game intelligence and experience. If he feels he doesn’t understand something, he’ll knock at the door and even call you.
“I hope his ankle doesn’t trigger again so that he can get back and assist.”
George Maluleke must be itching for more game time than the minimal role he’s played thus far. Coming off the bench in the 78th minute with Chiefs leading Platinum Stars 1-0, Maluleke made a telling contribution when he supplied an assist for fellow substitute Siphelele Mthembu and capped a 3-0 Telkom Knockout quarterfinal with a clever right-foot finish.
“The midfield is packed. It is the burden of having enough quality in your squad. George will get his time. We’re still going to play many matches.
“Next year we’re gonna have the Caf campaign. I’m trying to complement and allow the team to evolve in unison.
“And, also, the makeup of our midfield — if you’re playing two wide players, you can stick in two central midfielders with two strikers upfront.”
The other, George Lebese, is a midfielder who is firing like a striker.
For Komphela, Lebese’s nine goals — five in the league (one behind Mbesuma), three in the MTN8 and one in the Telkom Knockout — doesn’t indicate Chiefs’s overreliance on the 26year-old.
“If Arjen Robben scores for Bayern Munich, it’s not overreliance. Take advantage of that. Modern wingers are strikers,” he argues.
“When [Mandla] Masango left, he had scored quite a number of goals. That is the message. It should actually be an encouragement to the opposite side to say ‘listen, our left side is giving us goals, can we get them from the right’.
“Daine Klate will keep on scoring from wide areas. So will Keagan Dolly. It is a good thing to see happen. If George can score, all the forefront runners must have the same instinct.”
If Komphela has a midfield surplus, he has goalkeeping extravagance.
An injury to Itumeleng Khune does not warrant sleepless nights as Reyaad Pieterse and Brilliant Khuzwayo have proved equally proficient.
“Itu got injured three days before the Telkom semi against Orlando Pirates. We had Reyaad with us and Brilliant was playing in the MultiChoice Diski Challenge. He had two blinders back-to-back. On the back of that, you engage your goalkeeping department; so who do we opt for? The submission was that Brilliant had been doing tremendously well, been getting game time.” The trick is to keep all three happy.
“That had to be communicated properly to Reyaad. If you don’t manage it properly, then cracks start showing and it kills the team spirit. With the benefit of hindsight, we can say we took the best decision because Brilliant had a great performance against Pirates. It justifies the logical steps you take within an emotional game.”
Hendrick Ekstein has got the fans purring, and they’ve nicknamed Pule after a former crowd favourite, Jabu.
“You can’t question his talent, that’s why the fans like him. He can play in small spaces, he’s very intelligent, exciting and he’s offensive. Inside the box he’s incisive and the goal he scored in the 5-3 win against Maritzburg United was a culmination of his nerves.”
For Komphela not to be weakened by his doubters, he has to break his silverware duck. “We’ve gone 10 matches, lost one, the rest are wins and draws. We are in our second final. Elsewhere that’s success, but it is not good enough here. The definition of success at Chiefs is silverware.”