Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane issued a strong warning to other clubs in the DStv Premiership to expect a high-tempo approach when they face them.

In their opening two matches against Royal AM and Maritzburg United, Amakhosi applied a high-tempo approach which proved difficult to keep up with for both teams.

And after hammering Maritzburg 3-0 at FNB Stadium on Tuesday to record their first win of the season, Zwane explained how they are getting it right.

“I will be brutally honest. For the past six or seven years, if you watch Chiefs, we have been playing the game of two halves. It’s either we start well and finish badly, or we start badly and we finish strong,” Zwane explained to the media after the game.

“It was clear that the problem was either wrong playing personnel or the wrong people in terms of conditioning players.

“If you check who we brought in terms of conditioning players, sports scientist [Muzi Maluleke, who is working as a senior sports scientist and strength conditioning coach], we did our homework and we profiled him and we knew that we need this kind of person to come and help the team.

“Now you can see that we can easily play with the same tempo though there are still mistakes here and there which is key for us to take the tempo very high so the opposition doesn’t cope, more especially when we play at home. We must suffocate them here.”

Before he took over as head coach, Zwane said there were players who could not cover 13km or more distance and were not ready to fight for the club. But he is pleased that players are now responding and working hard for the club.

“During the preseason games, there is a player who covered 9km if I’m not mistaken just only for 45 minutes, and previously he covered 7km for 90 minutes,” Zwane said.

“So that alone tells you that many of our players were not working hard enough to play for the club and win games. That's why we played a game of two halves.

“So we had to focus on that to try and improve those aspects of those individuals to try to be better. I’m glad everyone is coming alright and showing a little bit of character and hunger again to play for the club.

“If you can’t cope with our sessions because they are highly explosive we will manage you because the club should play with a high tempo.”

Chiefs will be looking to carry that momentum when they visit defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday at 3pm.