Cavin Johnson suffered his biggest defeat since taking over as interim coach at Kaizer Chiefs, but all is not lost for the veteran mentor, who is confident that Amakhosi can still engineer a strong finish to their DStv Premiership campaign.
The Glamour Boys were forced to witness Mamelodi Sundowns pop champagne in their backyard as they were at the wrong end of a 5-1 score-line at the FNB Stadium on Thursday night.
Sundowns were crowned champions for a seventh successive season, and for Chiefs, they now need to maintain their spot in the top half of the table, which is Johnson’s objective for the remaining fixtures.
“It is a catch-22 situation now. We need to win all of those games and we need to build in order to show what we can have or can’t have. Under my watch so far, most of the players have played.
“We can see that the building is there, we just have to put them together and make sure that whoever we play on that particular day, goes out and gets the three points so we can be where we want to be at the end of the season.
“There are four games left, we have to go back to the drawing board and we really have to pull up our socks because the Chiefs that you saw in the last 15 minutes are not the Chiefs that I know.
“We are disappointed but we have to go back and fix it. We have to come out and we have to end up in the top eight because that is what we have to chase for now.
“We, not only the players but all of us, have to regroup and make sure that we are positive and in the next game, we need to get the best results that we can.
“The most important thing is the Chiefs brand and the people who work for the institution. There is a lot of good that is done behind the scenes, so there will be something that is improved and makes this brand better than it was before,” the Chiefs mentor told members of the media.
Johnson went on to elaborate on the defeat to Masandawana, where he was forced to change his game plan after Given Msimango was shown a straight red card as early as the 19th minute.
“The red card spoiled my game, but we held them like we should have held them in the first half to keep it at 0-0 with 10-man. We had a good structure and good moments of the game even though they had the ball.
“Their first goal is actually a foul for us and from that moment, they go to the other side and they score the goal.
“That really breaks your players because that is like an Achilles heel that he takes out of us because we are down to 10 men and the actual foul belongs to Chiefs.”
Johnson then detailed his tactical alterations following the red card as his side aimed to hang onto an unlikely draw.
“It was not a matter of bringing in another centre-back because we had Zitha Kwinika playing at right-back, which he can also play as a centre-back.
“We moved Yusuf Maart to right back-back and we had Edson Castillo and Siyethemba Sithebe in the middle. We were more than comfortable in the first half and we were able to stop them from playing and scoring.
Chiefs’ remaining fixtures:
7 May vs TS Galaxy (home)
12 May vs AmaZulu (away)
18 May vs Polokwane City (home)
25 May vs Cape Town Spurs (away)
5 - This is the first time in PSL history that Kaizer Chiefs have conceded five goals in a game in any competition. Disarray. #dstvprem pic.twitter.com/adzzNzlkPE
— OptaJabu (@OptaJabu) May 2, 2024
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