The Soweto giants were held by their visitors from Tshwane and a Buccaneers legend explained why he thinks no winner emerged from the encounter
Former Orlando Pirates midfielder Joseph Makhanya feels that Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport United employed similar tactics and played the same brand of football, which made it difficult to produce a victor from Saturday’s Premier Soccer League encounter.
The two sides played to a 1-1 draw at FNB Stadium with Chiefs opening the scoreline through Reeve Frosler in the 29th minute, while Matsatsantsa hit back via Bradley Grober’s second-half penalty as the striker scored his 13th league goal of the season.
From then, no side found a breakthrough and Makhanya has explained why he thinks that was the case.
“Obviously the style of play was very similar. They were both playing wide and penetrating from wide. It meant that both team’s style was similar,” Makhanya told iDiski TV.
“SuperSport deployed the same tactics, Kaizer Chiefs deployed the same tactics. The only difference between the two teams were their number tens. Chiefs had [Nkosingiphile] Ngcobo and SuperSport had Sipho Mbule. That difference was in decision-making and creativity.
“From SuperSport’s side it was a bad decision to substitute [Lucky] Mohomi. That is a player who gives you stability, coordination in the midfield and supply. At the end of the day he gives you that element of scoring. He takes long-range shots.”
Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt handed midfielder Willard Katsande a rare start before he was pulled out for Daniel Cardoso.
“One thing Gavin Hunt did was playing Katsande although he hadn’t played for a long while but he did play well in terms of protecting [Njabulo] Blom and Ngcobo," continued Makhanya.
“That meant Ngcobo was going to be closer to strikers and it became easier for him as he had to cover little space. He had to deal with the element of creativity which he did very well.
“He had some shots on target, he nearly scored a goal. It shows you that sometimes you have to know the kind of players you have and how to protect them to get the best out of them. That is what Gavin Hunt did and I liked that.
“On SuperSport’s side after they conceded he [Tembo] changed everything and substituted Mohomi. Maybe he wasn’t giving him what he wanted. It was too early to take him out especially that you don’t have someone to get in and directly replace him.”
Kaizer Chiefs now shift attention to hosting Horoya in a Caf Champions League Group B match on Tuesday while SuperSport host Orlando Pirates on Wednesday in a league encounter.