Baxter’s early troubles put Chiefs in a tricky position

Stuart Baxter’s start to his second spell as head coach of Kaizer Chiefs has had some hiccups and that has made the supporters question his every decision.

ALSO READ: Royal AM make easy meal of Baxter’s Kaizer Chiefs

He has had to explain why he was not using certain players and when he did, why he used them in the “wrong positions”.

Take Njabulo Ngcobo for instance. He only made his debut on Saturday in what was Chiefs’ fifth game this season and he played more as a defensive midfielder.

His original position at which he excelled last season is in central defence. Before Ngcobo, Baxter used another defender, Austin Dube, in the same role. It did not go well for Dube and he was dropped completely for Saturday’s game.

Baxter has, however, explained the thinking behind that.

“We are finding the balance. We don’t have a player who sits at No 6. Anthony (Agay) was supposed to play that role when he came in but we don’t have it in the system that we play at the moment,” said Baxter.

“We have an extra centre-back who steps up rather than a midfield player that drops in. We should compensate for it. But at the moment we make such poor decisions in moments of the game that destroy the whole performance.

“If we had played properly for the 90 minutes, we would not have had this conversation,” he added after Saturday’s disastrous 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Royal AM.

Despite effectively having three centre backs, Chiefs are a sieve at the back, having conceded in four of the five games they have played so far.

They have conceded nine and scored just four times.

“We could have said with a good win, the only hiccup was against Sundowns, and we played quite well there actually. Tonight makes everything look dark… we’re not happy with that performance. But we can’t let that taint everything that we’ve been doing,” said Baxter.

Chiefs’ next game is on Sunday when they visit another new team in the league, Marumo Gallants.