Kaizer Chiefs head coach Molefi Ntseki has responded to calls that Brandon Petersen should be dropped for Itumeleng Khune or Bruce Bvuma.
Petersen, just like the rest of the Chiefs squad, has had a hot and cold start to the new season. He has made some important saves in the games so far, but also had moments, which cost his team points.
With some fans calling for a change in the goalkeeping position, Ntseki has explained that they won’t make emotional decisions because Petersen is often at the end of a chain of mistakes leading to goals and has proven his quality.
“I think we’ve got a very good technical team, we’ve got a very good goalkeeping department with our mentor with Rainer [Dinkelacker],” he told journalists.
“I think those were mental issues, because when you look at his ability as a goalkeeper he has done very well for the team, even in the past few games.
“But the concentration levels were a bit down, that’s how he made those mistakes. It’s not only him that made mistakes that led us to the loose the game, I think it’s the whole team.
“Because when you look at it, it’s a series of mistakes that let to him making the last mistake.
“I think he has been in the game for some time now, as coaches we need to be there for the players and this is what we are doing to help him. I understand that mistakes like this will always be costly but these are the mistakes that we have to eliminate from our game.”
Ntseki also addressed potentially switching it up in the goalkeeping department, saying he won’t just change keepers for the sake of changing things.
“Also when it comes to Itumeleng Khune, something very important [to highlight] is that we have four goalkeeper and all of them are competing for the first position to be in the team,” he explained.
“When one makes a mistake we don’t just make changes without actually zooming into the problem and helping out with the problem, because you might make changes emotionally and what if the next player makes the same mistake.
“What is important here, we are a professional team and we also treating our players as professionals.”
Chiefs and Ntseki have a chance to turn things around when they face AmaZulu at FNB at 17:30 later on Saturday.
