Cape Town - Under-fire Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane will have a selection headache once he sits down to decide on his team to play Orlando Pirates in Saturday’s Soweto derby at FNB Stadium.
The problem is that many Chiefs players under-performed the weekend’s 3-2 Premiership defeat to Golden Arrows despite taking an early 1-0 lead. To add insult to injury, Zwane's substitutions backfired as his team became increasingly vulnerable as the game went on.
Arrows scored the final two goals in the 69th and 78th minutes and those goals were scored after Chiefs replaced Christian Saile Basomboli and Mduduzi Shabalala. They were replaced by Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana and Phathutshedzo Nange.
Saile and Shabalala, without being overly impressive, had done enough to stay on the field after they kept the Arrows defence busy. Bimenyimana was ineffective and did not add bite to the team's attack.
Nange was no improvement as Shabalala who had scored Chiefs' second goal. He was at least full of running in the final third looking for opportunities to hit the target.
This week, Zwane's selection problem is two-fold. He needs to assemble the best players in defence and the best front runners in his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation. His front four players Keagan Dolly, Shabalala, Ashley Du Preez and Saile failed to fire and all four were replaced.
Dolly was not at his best, but he did enough to score a goal but was denied by the crossbar.
Zwane continues to show confidence in Du Preez who failed to make an impact. He has great pace out wide, but somehow his efforts are coming to nothing because his teammates are not up in support. Perhaps Zwane needs to redefine the role for Du Preez, who is a great striker of the ball.
Zwane settled on a back four made up of Siyabonga Ngezana, Austin Dube, Zitha Kwinika and Sifiso Hlanti. Had they all performed, it would have been a perfect dress rehearsal for the derby.
Dube came in for Edmilson Dove, who was ill. He was the weak link in the rearguard. He was not working in tandem with the rest of his defence and at times he left gaps, which Arrows exposed.
WATCH: Cape Town City leap into top eight after ill-tempered match against Swallows FC
Alongside him, Kwinika became increasingly vulnerable late in the game and seemed to battle with the pace of the opposition's attacks.
All in all, it looks like Zwane will make two changes to the line-up on Saturday.
IOL Sport