Komphela explains Meyiwa and Parker substitution
Kaizer Chiefs coach Steve Komphela has explained why he decided to take off Wiseman Meyiwa and Bernard Parker in the early stages of the second half.
Wiseman Meyiwa of Kaizer Chiefs (Photo by Petri Oeschger/Gallo Images)
Amakhosi and AmaZulu played to a goalless draw at the Princess Magogo Stadium on Saturday evening.
The goalless draw dented Chiefs’ hopes challenging for the Absa Premiership title.
“It’s normal in a game where you say players must get ready physically and prepare mentally, perhaps using time to point at what it is that you’re wanting to rectify,” explained Komphela after the match.
“One of the messages to Pule was that, ‘Check the situation with [Butholezwe] Ncube and [Siyethemba] Mnguni, in relation to [Ovidy] Karuru.’
“When [Willard] Katsande was closer to Karuru, the equation in the midfield became a two-vs-two with ‘Shabba’ [Siphiwe Tshabalala] and Meyiwa.
“So I said to Pule, ‘Observe that. When you go in, try to push higher so that we have confrontation on Mnguni and Ncube. Don’t worry much about being alongside Katsande.’
“Those are moments that you choose. On the bench we do communicate and pass on information and, before a player goes on the field, you say, ‘Can you see that?’ Once he says, ‘Okay’, that’s how we solve it.”
“Those things consistently happen in football matches. Coaches change within 20 minutes, it’s tactical; sometimes it’s a forced change. But, for us, we wanted to effect the game.
“Did we effect the game? For sure, there were two different kind of games. In the first half, AmaZulu defended well. Second half, we made it difficult for them to defend well,” he concluded.
