‘He’s a revelation’: Ntseki sings praises of Chiefs’ new signing Castillo
Edson Castillo is a “revelation” and “the player we needed”, Kaizer Chiefs’ new head coach Molefi Ntseki said of the Venezuelan signing after his touches in midfield in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Botswana's Township Rollers earned admiration from the club’s supporters.
Chiefs lost their second international preseason friendly in succession, again in front of a packed ground at Gaborone’s National Stadium, after their defeat by the same scoreline against Yanga SC in Tanzania last weekend.
There were positive comments from Chiefs fans on Castillo’s distribution, midfield organising, touches and eye for a pass in the game decided by former Orlando Pirates star Thabo Rakhale’s 80th-minute strike.
“I think that’s the player we needed to have on the pitch,” Ntseki said in his post-match interview with SuperSport TV of Venezuela international Castillo’s performance.
“We played him 70 minutes in Tanzania. Today the plan was to play him for 45 minutes and then give other players a chance.
“I think he’s a revelation in terms of [fitting into] 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 give us more balance in the midfield.”
After fielding six new signings in his starting line-up in Dar es Salaam, Ntseki played a number of last season’s stalwarts against Rollers, including Brandon Petersen, Reeve Frosler, Sifiso Hlanti, Siyethemba Sithebe, Mdudzi Shabalala and Christian Saile.
Castillo and Thatayaone Dithlokwe were the only new signings in the starting XI.
“I think in terms of playing minutes preparing for the first game we are in the right track,” Ntseki said.
“If you look at the first half with the first group of players we fielded it was more about getting playing minutes. In Tanzania we gave [those players] less minutes.
“With the second batch of players who came in [in the second half] it was more of them getting a top-up.”
Ntseki said there were lessons Chiefs could learn from the game ahead of their season-opening DStv Premiership fixture against Chippa United at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday.
“The first thing is you don’t give away goals like that. It means we’re not properly positioning ourselves.
“We did not put pressure on the ball, we allowed them to play a diagonal ball and unfortunately we did not defend the far side of the cross. These are the things we’ll be addressing.
“In the first half we created a few chances. What we’re also looking at is what the challenges were in us finishing those.”
Ntseki said in the last week of the preseason he will work on creating more multiple movements to move defenders, finishing, not allowing opponents to play through Chiefs’ defence, being compact and positioning in one-vs-ones.