Nkosingiphile Ngcobo during the Kaizer Chiefs media open day at Kaizer Chiefs Village on April 03, 2025 in Johannesburg, South Africa.Image: Lefty Shivambu

Chiefs midfielders Ngcobo and Cele agree: we're in a crisis

by · SowetanLIVE

Kaizer Chiefs midfield duo of Nkosingiphile Ngcobo and Thabo Cele have given the most refreshing and honest assessment of the team's dire situation yet, citing their ineptitude to control matches as the main Achilles heel, with Cele admitting they were in a crisis.

Consistency and Chiefs have been incompatible this season under the new technical team, led by Tunisian coach Nasreddine Nabi. Amakhosi have already suffered 10 league defeats, jeopardising their dream of qualifying for continental football next season.

We're giving the games away ourselves...it's not the opponents that give us problems [but] it's just usThabo Cele

Having already leaked 28 goals in the league, [only Marumo Gallants (34) and AmaZulu (32) have conceded more than Chiefs] Amakhosi have made it a norm to lose to relegation candidates and lowly teams this season. 

"At the moment, everyone is frustrated,'' Ngcobo revealed at a presser at Naturena on Thursday morning.

"From the beginning of the season, we've lacked that ability to control games even when it's 0-0 or 1-1 and we're playing better than the opponent, we always struggle to maintain the momentum and the tempo...we tend to get frustrated and we start rushing and then we lose our games like that."

Cele, who only joined Chiefs in January, also admitted that the situation they're in was self-inflicted, also bemoaning their inability to control games as they were now in a "crisis". 

"We're giving the games away ourselves...it's not the opponents that give us problems [but] it's just us. We tend to lose control very easily and it's something that's frustrating,'' Cele stated.

"For Chiefs to be sitting where we're sitting [eighth with 29 points from 23 games], it's not nice...it is a crisis, you can call it a crisis because even us as a team we know that we can do way better.  With the coach, it's a message that's always there to say, 'control, control', so that we can create more chances and be calm at the back to win games.

"When you lose control of the game, you find yourself making silly mistakes. We must improve on the control aspect, so that we can be organised when we lose the ball."

Chiefs will be eager to snap their three-game winless streak in the league when they host TS Galaxy at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday (7pm).

SowetanLIVE