Solinas demands a lot more from Khune
Itumeleng Khune is known to be one of the finest distributors of the ball and has owned Bafana Bafana’s No. 1 jersey for most part of the last decade.
Itumeleng Khune, captain of Kaizer Chiefs celebrates a goal (Gerhard Duraan/BackpagePix)
The Chiefs captain may boast about his skills, however his coach, Giovanni Solinas wants the 31-year-old to do a lot more.
Part of Solinas’ philosophy – by his own account – is to start his build-up from the back and he needs the Amakhosi goalie to get involved in the build-up.
“I want my defenders to start the build-up from the back. Our philosophy is to start play with the goalkeeper. We need to take the responsibility and play with courage and play brave,” said Solinas.
READ: Billiat is the best player in the PSL – Solinas
“I want the goalkeeper, when we have the ball at the back, to play as a central defender. In our drill during the training session we use the goalkeeper as a central defender so they can play with the feet,” he added.
With young and relatively inexperienced players in Chiefs’ defensive unit such as Siyabonga Ngezana, Siphosakhe Ntiya-Ntiya and Teenage Hadebe , Solinas is hopeful that the work they put in at training will manifest on match days.
“This is the idea, it is our philology. Sometimes we do well and sometimes not but the players improve game by game and they understand the idea much better.
“I am optimistic and I am sure that if the player continues to out the effort in the training session and they focus on the job, we can play well and we can win the trophies.”
READ: We need to put in more effort – Billiat
