Why Chiefs Need A Striker | Soccer Laduma

After the six-week Africa Cup of Nations hiatus, Kaizer Chiefs returned to domestic action. It was thought that a mini preseason would see Cavin Johnson implement his ideas and attacking patterns into the squad. Yet, two games into 2024 and the side has scored precisely zero goals. Whilst they’re just five points off second place in the DStv Premiership, a Nedbank Cup exit has seen their trophy drought extended to a full nine years. This is becoming one of the darkest periods in the Soweto giants’ history and in most big clubs, heads would roll at board level, in the coaching staff and amongst the playing personnel. Whilst the problems on the field are extensive, the focus of this feature is on the lack of ability to score goals. Amakhosi have spent significant cash on transfer fees over the last two years, yet they still have zero reliable goalscorers in their squad whilst their top earner and most creative player, in Keagan Dolly, is sat on the bench. Soccer Laduma look at the last two fixtures in an effort to examine the missed chances and type of opportunities being created.

Johnson’s set-up

We’ve had two matches to see how Cavin Johnson is setting Kaizer Chiefs up. Against Royal AM and in the Nedbank Cup, it was a 4-2-3-1 shape. The coach has now discarded his attempts to use all of Edson Castillo, Yusuf Maart and Sibongiseni Mthethwa at the same time. In a recent feature, Soccer Laduma implored him to select just two of those midfielders and get four attacking players onto the pitch. For that, he deserves some credit. For the match against Thwihli Thwahla, Pule Mmodi and Christian Saile played wide, with Ashley Du Preez down the  iddle and Nkosingiphile Ngcobo as a number 10. The side had 13 shots over the 97 or so minutes of play. As we have seen all season, a recurring problem without doubt, Amakhosi started the game slowly and only had five shots in the first stanza with two hitting the target. In fact, Royal AM started the match really well and by the 39th minute, they’d had several dangerous shots from distance, a few blocked attempts and Khulekani Shezi had headed wide from a corner. The big chance that had gone the Soweto giants’ way came from a long Reeve Frosler punt on the counter-attack, which sent Du Preez racing clear to chip over the top of the goal. As is so often the case, he is too fast for his own teammates and ends up with no support to square the ball to! That’s not to say that his one-onone finishing doesn’t need some serious work.