Kaizer Chiefs head coach Molefi Ntseki has labelled new signing Edson Castillo as a “revelation” after their 1-0 defeat to Township Rollers on Saturday.
Amakhosi lost the second game of their African tour 1-0, a week after losing by the same scoreline to Young Africans SC.
Despite only week to their DStv Premiership opener, Ntseki opted to heavily rotate his starting XI, making 11 changes.
However, Castillo was one of three players – along with Thatayaone Ditlhokwe and Christian Saile – who started in both games, and the new Venezuelan midfielder impressed with a fine display at the National Stadium in Botswana, despite only playing 45 minutes.
“I think that’s the player we needed to have on the pitch. Like I said, we played him for 70 minutes in Tanzania. So today, the plan was for him to play 45 minutes and then to give other players a chance,” Ntseki told SuperSport TV after the match.
“I think he’s a revelation in terms of our tactical play, in terms of his intelligence in possession and also how he’s helping the team out of possession.
“I think he’ll be giving us more balance in the midfield going forward.”
However, Ntseki wasn’t impressed with his side’s defending as former Orlando Pirates winger Thabo Rakhale scored the only goal of the match after 79 minutes, and also criticised his side’s finishing.
“You don’t give away goals like that. It means we’re not properly positioning ourselves, we do not put pressure on the ball. We allow them to play a diagonal ball and unfortunately we did not defend the far side of the cross,” he added.
“These are the things that we’ll be addressing, these are the things that we’ll be working on.
“If you look at the first half, we created a few chances and what we’ll be looking at is where those chances were created and what were the challenges [in] finishing those chances.”
Chiefs will start their 2023/24 DStv Premiership with a home match against Chippa United at Moses Mabhida Stadium on 6 August.
