It continues to get even worse for Kaizer Chiefs, following news that Khama Billiat is set for an extended spell on the sidelines. This worrying update would have been the last thing Amakhosi faithful would have been hoping to hear ahead of the CAF Champions League at the weekend.
Chiefs could only play out to another disappointing draw against Swallows in the DStv Premiership on Wednesday.
If dropped points wasn’t enough, Gavin Hunt has revealed he had to tweak his tactics at halftime, while adding that Billiat indeed took a blow to his leg.
“Every game this season from the start I’ve had to make change before half-time,” Hunt said after the game.
“It’s part and parcel. But I’ve never seen anything like this. After 20 minutes we have make two changes. So it is a problem because I thought he was doing well there, Siya. KG (Kagiso Malinga) didn’t have much space or room against him. I played him there because I knew KG would give him a game and we had to take him. But you know that’s part and parcel of the game.
“I’m disappointed because once we got to 1-1 even before they scored we had good domination of the ball. Good areas we get into. We got to do better but we didn’t. The players are giving me a lot everyday, working very hard but sometimes they can only give you so much down to how good you are. So they’re working hard and that’s all I can ask of them. Right now you need to defend the goal a little bit better. They didn’t look threatening. Our goalkeeper didn’t have too much to do. Only from balls in the box and restarts.”
“All the teams in the quarterfinals, nobody’s playing two days before the game. It is what it is with us. Ja, we gonna have to regroup.. We’ve got a few out now again. You know, Khama’s leg, I’ve just been told has got another fracture in it so he’ll be out. He hasn’t played this season so that’s another blow. It doesn’t give us anything much up front. We’re short up front. Castro with his groin, problems.
“In times of adversity, we stand up and be counted. We believe in the players we have available and we’re gonna have to trust them and set up a plan and have a go. That’s all we can do. Obviously, Erick got injured two games ago so he’s been struggling. I don’t know, we’ll see. I couldn’t play him tonight. He wasn’t fit enough to play. He’s got a problem with his arm.”
Chiefs are now without a win in their last four league games and the reality now is that they are in grave danger of missing out on the top-eight come end of the season.