Kaizer Chiefs coach Cedric Kaze believes there needs to be tempered expectations or mistakes will continue to happen at the club.
In an explosive pre-match press conference for the build-up to their Sunday clash against Durban City, the Burundian came out guns blazing, defending the work done by the club and technical team this season as they sit in sixth place.
They trail league leaders Orlando Pirates by 17 points, but only three behind Sekhukhune United in third – and have two games in hand. While a lot was said, the overall theme was to state, third place is and should have always been communicated as the realistic target this season – despite ending their trophy drought with the Nedbank Cup title last season.
“If I was judged on where the team used to be, maybe I would have got a medal now because we won a trophy last season, after ten years and you know sometimes you need to be realistic,” Kaze said.
“We’re a big club that is in rebuilding, we’re a big club that is in rebuilding and that’s the facts we need to understand, because if you don’t understand that, you will make a lot of mistakes, thinking you have to have the right, to have that.
“All these years you don’t have that [success], then how do you get to that? It’s the question, when you raise the expectations too much, the reality becomes unrealistic. But as I said, let’s finish the season and judge us on what we have achieved.”
Chiefs have finished 10th and ninth in the last two campaigns and while Kaze says there’s notable progress, he admits, they could have been higher on the table, citing three games where points should not have been dropped.
“For me [the progress] is enough but not enough, as we could have had more points than what we have – there’s that games against AmaZulu, TS Galaxy and Chippa United where we had over 60% possession, 20 shots on target, missed penalties, disallowed goals.
“With those, maybe we could have had more points, but at this point, we feel we could have done better – but we have done well.”
