1. Unbeaten At Home
Amakhosi
have simply been ruthless at home. They have not lost a single match at
home. Added to that, their away record
has improved compared to last season.
Last season at this stage they only won 3 out of 12 matches away from
home. This season they have already won 6 out of 11 away games including the
3-0 thrashing of Bloemfontein Celtic this past Sunday.
2. Taking The Lead And Keeping It
Chiefs
have only won once from a losing position (against Free State Stars at home). When
in the lead, the Glamour boys have only thrown away 4 point all season from a
winning position. While this may point
to a lack of fighting spirit for some, one thing it does confirm is that Chiefs
know how to sniff and then grab hold of the three points, and then take the
points safely home no matter what the opposition may do.
Let
us also not forget that from a losing position they managed to take 2 points
away from rivals Orlando Pirates while simultaneously gaining an important
point in the first derby of the season.
It is safe to say that Chiefs do indeed “have Balz”.
3. Change Of Tactics From Baxter
Many
may think I will be highlighting the use of an adaptable 5-3-2 (3-5-2)
formation from Baxter as a bit of tactical genius. However, the most important
decision by Baxter was to simply change from what looked liked a 4-3-3 with the
interchangeable three of Josta Dladla, Reneilwe “Yeye” Letsholonyane (in a deep
midfield role), and Siyabonga Nkosi, to the more commonly used 4-3-3 (and other
adaptations) that has Williard “Salt 'n Pepper” Katsande playing the role that
Tinashe Nengomasha made his own as a “destroyer”, thereby allowing Yeye more
freedom to attack. This has allowed soccer fans the opportunity to enjoy Yeye
at his creative best - distributing balls all over the pitch to allow Bernard
Parker and co an opportunity to knock the ball into the Auld Onion Bag.
In
August, I wrote that Chiefs may rue letting Nengomasha go as I felt Katsande
had not show enough consistency to fill his countryman's big shoes. I also felt that Lucky Baloyi was also not
ready to play big role in a title-challenging team Fortunately for Amakhosi, “Salt 'n Pepper”
Katsande showed massive improvement and his contribution has been immense ever
since he became regular this season.
4. “Major” Strikeforce
When
you have the luxury of bringing on a Bafana Bafana striker on as an impact
player, you have a quite an advantage over other teams.
With
a strikeforce containing the likes of Bernard Parker, Kingston Nkhatha, and
Lehlohonolo “Major” Majoro to choose from, Chiefs coach, Stuart Baxter, has
been spoilt for choice as the three players have not only been consistent in
their performance - contributing over 20 goals - but they have also avoided any
serious injuries.
Contrast
this to Pirates where Bafana legend Benni McCarthy has remained sidelined for
most of the season, Takesure Chinyama has only scored twice in the league,
Collins Mbesuma is a shadow of the player he was for Chiefs back in 2005, and
Ndumiso Mabena... The mere mention of THAT miss in the Telkom Knockout Cup
match against Celtic probably still gives coach Roger De Sa nightmares!
5. Injuries
Key
players at Pirates including Rooi Mahamutsa, goalscoring centreback Siyabonga
Sangweni, the experienced Benni McCarthy, Moneeb Josephs and Sifiso “Myessi”
Myeni have all suffered bad injuries during the season which has contributed to
the below-par performances.
As
I mentioned earlier, Chiefs have had a strikeforce that, fortunately for them,
avoided any serious injury problems. While in defence, their number one in
between the poles, Itumeleng Khune, has remained injury-free while new signing
Morgan Gould was the only senior player to get a long-term injury. Midfield kingpin, “Yeye” Letsholonyane, as a
creative force, has played a big part in the title challenge while Pirates have
lost their biggest creative force “Myessi” to injury at an important stage of
the season.
So,
while both teams have had their share of injury problems, Pirates were hit
hardest with the loss of key men like McCarthy and Mahamusta for most of the
season.
Conclusion
There
are of course other factors that may have contributed to Chiefs currently
topping the PSL table (and no, the use of brown envelopes is not what I was
thinking).
However,
with seven games of the season remaining, the title is not yet wrapped up and
we may still witness some drama in the run-in.
Let's
hope we will have a relatively tight finish(and maybe even see Pirates
snatching it late) instead of a situation where Chiefs simply walk away with
the title. That is, of course, unless
some of you actually take the Q-Innovation table seriously.
By Thomas Monyepao
Do
follow me on twitter. The name is @Tom_18Yards.
