Wits make chiefs look so ordinary

Wits' Thulani Hlatshwayo wins one of the many aerial battles that gave little room for Bernard Parker and his Chiefs teammates in their Absa Premiership game last night. Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
Wits' Thulani Hlatshwayo wins one of the many aerial battles that gave little room for Bernard Parker and his Chiefs teammates in their Absa Premiership game last night. Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images

Bidvest Wits started the new season with a 2-1 victory over a Kaizer Chiefs team that has made little improvement from last term, judging by their performance here last night.

Amakhosi have been talking big as they look to bounce back from a horrible campaign last time round, but they were made to look ordinary by Wits.

Last night's performance might give Wits coach Gavin Hunt some hope that this is the campaign he finally cracks the code.

The Clever Boys' new signings, especially Xola Mlambo and Thabang Monare, made a huge impact on their debuts.

The same cannot be said about their opponents.

It might have only been the first game of the season but Amakhosi fans should be worried by what they saw last night.

Chiefs were shocking, disjointed and never looked like they had a plan.

Komphela brought in 10 new players after the massive clear out last season but only Ramahlwe Mphahlele debuted for Amakhosi.

Komphela started with Bernard Parker as the lone striker. He was tightly marked by Wits defender Buhle Mkhwanazi.

Parker cannot take all the blame because he just was not getting enough supply from his team mates.

George Lebese did not look inspired at all, William Twala did a lot of running but very little with the ball, while George Maluleka and Pule Ekstein failed to stamp their authority in their central midfield roles.

Chiefs also struggled to deal with set pieces and crosses into their box.

Wits' goals were headers by Elias Pelembe (33rd minute) and captain Thulani Hlatshwayo (64th minute).

Lorenzo Gordinho scored Chiefs' consolation in the 82nd minute, but by then Wits had already done enough to win the game.

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