The team and I are still together – Johnson after Chiefs' loss

Kaizer Chiefs caretaker coach Cavin Johnson has insisted that his players are still behind him amid the team's awful form of late.

Chiefs put in another unconvincing display when they lost 1-0 to high-flying Stellenbosch in the league at FNB Stadium on Tuesday, where Devin Titus scored the match's only goal that also extended the Cape Winelands side's unbeaten streak to an impressive 19 games across all official competitions.

Amakhosi's overall display on Tuesday didn't inspire hope, raising suspicions that players themselves have lost faith in Johnson. Even so, Johnson dismissed that notion, reiterating he still enjoys the full backing of his troops. 

"Always, I believe that the players are still with me. We are still together and they haven't given up hope. I can tell you straight that the team and I are still together,'' Johnson insisted.

Be that as it may, the Amakhosi interim coach didn't hide that Chiefs have an unhappy camp, reasoning that was purely because the players were frustrated with their own performances rather than anything else.

"I think the players are not happy with themselves now because of the performance, so that's the unhappy camp I am talking about,'' Johnson said.

"They don't want to lose and that makes it very, very difficult because when you lose, you lose a lot of energy and we just have to make sure that we get them back to where they were before the Stellenbosch game."

Johnson, who was initially appointed as the side's head of academy last September before he was installed as a caretaker coach to replace Molefi Ntseki a month later, has won five of the 14 games he's been in charge of at Chiefs so far with five defeats and four draws.

Chiefs will be eager to return to winning ways when they face Chippa United at Buffalo City Municipality Stadium in another league encounter on Saturday (3pm).