Kaizer Chiefs defenders Zitha Kwinika and Sifiso Hlanti both view the team's recent defensive blunders as a learning curve.
Chiefs' season has so far been mainly defined by a series of schoolboy errors at the back, with Siyabonga Ngezana and Njabulo Ngcobo at the centre of those glaring howlers. Amakhosi face high-flying AmaZulu in a DStv Premiership match at FNB Stadium tomorrow (5.30pm).
Kwinika has implied their defensive blunders don't mean there's a crisis, insisting they'll grow from such shortcomings. "It's not a problem but it's just mistakes. Football is a game of mistakes but now we're making mistakes that cost us games. We're in the phase of building and we're learning. We're speaking a bout these mistakes as we try to fix them and I know we'll get better,'' Kwinika said at the club's media open day in Naturena yesterday.
Hlanti, who played his first game since suffering a severe Achilles tendon injury last November against Stellenbosch in the MTN8 quarterfinals last Saturday, echoed Kwinika's sentiment and maintained that mistakes play a huge part in players' growth.
"Mistakes are part of the game... you can't run away from mistakes in football. As a footballer, when you make a mistake that's how you learn. Once you put yourselves in a situation whereby you feel you've made a mistake, you'll never grow and you'll never recover,'' Hlanti added.
Kwinika is the only Chiefs centre-back who's started all the matches thus far. Being always trusted as a somewhat first-choice centre-back under Zwane's tutelage isn't making Kwinika big-headed, saying he still needs his teammates to perform well.
"Football is a team sport and it's not only about me. For me to perform well, I need other players to compliment me. There are certain things other defenders do right to make sure I am not exposed at times. I can play with Njabulo [Ngcobo] and I can also play with Siya [Ngezana] or Tower [Eric Mathoho],'' Kwinika stated.
Chiefs have gone seven years without winning a trophy, with the 2014/15 league title their last piece of silverware. Kwinika, 28, has laid bare their desire to be the class to end the trophy drought at Naturena. "We want to be that generation that changed the history of the club. We are committed to make the Khosi Nation [their fans] happy by winning trophies this season.''
Chiefs working on defensive bloopers as AmaZulu visit
Kwinika and Hlanti adamant there's no crisis
Image: Kaizer Chiefs FC
Kaizer Chiefs defenders Zitha Kwinika and Sifiso Hlanti both view the team's recent defensive blunders as a learning curve.
Chiefs' season has so far been mainly defined by a series of schoolboy errors at the back, with Siyabonga Ngezana and Njabulo Ngcobo at the centre of those glaring howlers. Amakhosi face high-flying AmaZulu in a DStv Premiership match at FNB Stadium tomorrow (5.30pm).
Kwinika has implied their defensive blunders don't mean there's a crisis, insisting they'll grow from such shortcomings. "It's not a problem but it's just mistakes. Football is a game of mistakes but now we're making mistakes that cost us games. We're in the phase of building and we're learning. We're speaking a bout these mistakes as we try to fix them and I know we'll get better,'' Kwinika said at the club's media open day in Naturena yesterday.
Hlanti, who played his first game since suffering a severe Achilles tendon injury last November against Stellenbosch in the MTN8 quarterfinals last Saturday, echoed Kwinika's sentiment and maintained that mistakes play a huge part in players' growth.
"Mistakes are part of the game... you can't run away from mistakes in football. As a footballer, when you make a mistake that's how you learn. Once you put yourselves in a situation whereby you feel you've made a mistake, you'll never grow and you'll never recover,'' Hlanti added.
Kwinika is the only Chiefs centre-back who's started all the matches thus far. Being always trusted as a somewhat first-choice centre-back under Zwane's tutelage isn't making Kwinika big-headed, saying he still needs his teammates to perform well.
"Football is a team sport and it's not only about me. For me to perform well, I need other players to compliment me. There are certain things other defenders do right to make sure I am not exposed at times. I can play with Njabulo [Ngcobo] and I can also play with Siya [Ngezana] or Tower [Eric Mathoho],'' Kwinika stated.
Chiefs have gone seven years without winning a trophy, with the 2014/15 league title their last piece of silverware. Kwinika, 28, has laid bare their desire to be the class to end the trophy drought at Naturena. "We want to be that generation that changed the history of the club. We are committed to make the Khosi Nation [their fans] happy by winning trophies this season.''
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