Up to players to get Chiefs on track, says Khune

Kaizer Chiefs’ Itumeleng Khune says the only people who can stop the rot at the club are the players, insisting Amakhosi are still in the title race despite being 10 points behind leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, who have played three games fewer than Chiefs.

Chiefs have been mediocre since they won their last silverware, the league title, in the 2014/2015 season.

Khune, who will play his 28th Soweto derby should he feature against Orlando Pirates in the league at the FNB Stadium on Saturday (3.30pm), insisted it was too early to write off Chiefs in the title race, saying they had targeted winning all their remaining games.

“We are in this league to compete until the last whistle,” he said. “Now we’ve played 11 games, so we still have a long way to go.

“We vowed to our bosses that if we can win all our remaining matches, which people think is impossible, we’ll challenge for the league or at least finish second and qualify for the Champions League. We can’t take ourselves out of the race. It’s still too early to say Chiefs are out of the title race.

“We may not have won a cup in the past eight years, but that doesn’t mean we are no longer a big club. We will continue fighting and we’ll definitely change things.

“It’s within our hands as players to change our fortunes and no-one else can come to the village or FNB Stadium and change the situation we find ourselves in. We put ourselves in it and we have to take ourselves out of it as the players.”

On the prospect of playing his 28th Soweto derby, Khune said: “It always feels different every time you step onto that park to play the Soweto derby.”

Pirates striker Kermit Erasmus admitted the only thing missing in their play was composure in front of goal. He said they had been working hard on their composure to make sure they were clinical.

The Buccaneers have netted only three times in their last five matches. The last time they scored more than a goal was on October 20 when they beat Cape Town Spurs 2-0 in the Carling Knockout last 16.

“I think we need to be composed in the final third. We’ve been creating chances even in the results that were not going our way,” Erasmus said after the derby media conference in Randburg on Thursday.

“We cannot hide from the fact that stats play a role in football as well. And the stats show we are getting [it right] in the final third and key positions. Our execution in the final action to have the final pass — we are just lacking on that. We’ve been working on that this week.

“If you look at the game we played on Tuesday [against Sekhukhune], we managed to get the result from what we have been trying to do, having composure in front of goal. Hopefully, this weekend we will have more of that and convert the chances that we create.”

With both teams heading into the derby on the back of poor results recently before their midweek matches and not much separating them, Erasmus said whoever converted the chances they created would walk away victorious.

“Who wants it more, who is hungry on the day, who is willing to do the things that the opposition is not willing to do,” he said.

“It’s one of the biggest games in Africa. I don’t think previous results or previous form play a role. Yes, you are motivated to do the best as a team. I think if you present on the day mentally, physically and emotionally, you absorb everything that comes with what the game brings, you will adjust to whatever happens.”