Kaizer Chiefs assistant coach Khalil Ben Youssef has explained why they altered their formation in the 1-1 draw against Marumo Gallants on Wednesday evening.
Chiefs notably changed to a back three of Zitha Kwinika, Inacio Miguel and Bradley Cross, with Reeve Frosler, and Paseko Mako pushing forward as wing-backs.
It allowed Amakhosi to push with three attack minded forwards in Khanyisa Mayo, Gaston Sirino and Ashley du Preez and it nearly paid dividends with Mayo scoring on debut – but Sirino’s spurned penalty handed Gallants a life-line, which the notably took in the second half.
“The idea was to play with a 3-4-3 and play higher [up the pitch], we tried to make our block higher to press Gallants, this season they have been trying to play short passes, they are not like last season with [direct play],” he said.
“So for that we tried to press them higher to recover the ball, and I think we did that, and had many opportunities to score, you said it was a defensive approach – I don’t agree with that, if you see the possession, the xG, then you can analyse the situation if it was defensive or offensive approach.”
With 1.77 xG, which trumped the 0.41 of Gallants, Ben Youssef suggests it’s only a matter of time before results change, after a three-match winless run.
“Last three games, we didn’t win, but the most important thing for us is the performance, then the result, because if we have good performances, the results will come, but if it’s not good performances, then we will be worried about the situation of the team,” he said.
“Like I said before, I don’t have anything to reproach for our team, for the players, all of them played well, we were unlucky… we will continue to work and correct what went wrong in the game.”
