Africa-Press – South-Africa. Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane believes the only way for Siyabonga Ngezana to rectify mistakes in his game is to give him more game time as the season progresses.
The 24-year-old has had a tough start to the 2022/22 campaign after his errors against Mamelodi Sundowns resulted in a heavy 4-0 defeat.
Ngezana was the targeted man again as supporters at Cape Town Stadium called for Zwane to replace the centre-back when Cape Town City beat the Glamour Boys 2-0 on Tuesday.
However, Zwane quickly came to Ngezana’s defence and insisted that the player could only learn from his mistakes with more game time.
“This is football, and football is meant to help players to grow,” Zwane told reporters when queried about the defender.
“Football is a game of mistakes. The only time you can protect any player, not only Siya, is by giving them the opportunity to play.
“His performance will obviously convince our supporters as time goes on because we do have other players who are doing well.
“But you look at the way we want to play. You’ve got players that you want to win their one-vs-ones battles.
“Some of the players that we have, they’re very good, but not in winning those one-v-one battles.
“Siya is one of those defenders that can win his one-v-one battles at the back. Zita and Ngcobo, who’s been out for some time and at least now he is doing well as well, he’s been given the opportunity to play.
“We’re actually looking for the tactical understanding in terms of the balance at the back and when we defend.”
Zwane opted to play a defensive back three, with Ngezana partnering Njabulo Ngcobo and Zitha Macheke with Dillan Solomons and Reeve Frosler as wingbacks.
But it was a move that backfired, and only after City’s second goal did Zwane revert his charges to a back four.
“We’ll be changing, obviously. There will be games where we’ll play with three; there’ll be games where we’ll play with two central defenders, and the full-backs, on the right and on the left,” Zwane continued.
“It depends on the game approach, but it’s one of those things where you’re looking for combinations, you want to get the combinations right, and then something happens.
“But it’s part of the game to complain, we can only learn, and it also tests us as coaches as to where we can improve and help the players to excel.”
City are back in action on Saturday (15:00) against AmaZulu at Athlone Stadium in an MTN8 quarter-final clash, while Chiefs return to the Mother City for their knockout encounter against Stellenbosch on Sunday (15:00).
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
