Kaizer Chiefs mistakes blocking run of wins, says Fernando da Cruz

Kaizer Chiefs head coach Fernando da Cruz says avoidable mistakes have stopped his side from putting together consecutive victories this season, despite performances he believes have been good enough to deliver a stronger run of results.

Amakhosi have yet to win back-to-back matches in any competition this campaign, an unwanted record that has raised questions about their consistency as they seek to establish themselves as genuine contenders for silverware.

Chiefs have played 13 matches so far, winning five, drawing five and losing three. Those figures underline a team capable of competing, but their failure to build on victories has limited their progress and prevented them from gaining sustained momentum.

Da Cruz was asked about the problem ahead of Sunday’s Carling Knockout Cup meeting with Siwelele. The Frenchman rejected the suggestion that a lack of quality or consistently poor performances were the main reasons for the club’s stop-start form.

“The analysis for that is very easy. If you look at our journey since the start of the season, sometimes we draw games because we make mistakes when we actually deserve to win these types of games,” he said.

“We have deserved to win two or three games in a row because of our performances, but those reasons have stopped us from doing so.”

The coach’s assessment is that Chiefs have repeatedly put themselves in positions to win, only to surrender valuable points through lapses at important moments. While their displays have often been competitive, they have not converted that level of performance into the results required to mount a sustained challenge.

That lack of efficiency has proved particularly damaging because consecutive victories would give the Naturena-based side both momentum and a clearer platform from which to pursue success. Instead, each win has been followed by a result that has prevented them from establishing a winning sequence.

The Carling Knockout Cup provides Chiefs with another opportunity to change that pattern. Victory over Siwelele would send them through to the next round and give Da Cruz’s team the chance to leave its unwanted record behind.

However, the coach’s message is clear: encouraging performances alone will not be enough. Chiefs must remove the costly errors that have undermined their efforts and ensure their displays are reflected in the final result if they are to challenge for silverware.