Johannesburg - Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter admits that poor defence in set-pieces led to their emphatic 4-1 loss to Mamelodi Sundowns in the MTN8 quarter-finals on Sunday.
Chiefs went down 4-0 in the first period, with Sundowns' first three goals coming from set-pieces, and Baxter feels that the discipline and focus from the players let them down.
"I think the whole first half was dominated by the fact that we didn't defend set-plays well. They got three goals from set-plays," he said.
"When you go a goal down and then two goals down, the players have to work with the organisation on set-plays. They have to work with keeping their discipline and not letting the game run away from them.
"If we could have kept it in reach when we came in at half-time, we could have turned a few things and maybe would have had a chance in the second-half.
"But it was the discipline and the inability to defend set-plays.
"I said to the lads at half-time, for me it mirrored what happened on the field. They (Sundowns) were winning headers but they shouldn't have been. It just happened that they were winning headers in our box as well.
"It tells you that we have a lot of work to do. It tells us that the progress that we've made, when we came under real pressure today, the focus buckled. So, it's going to take a while before the progress we've made is nailed down.
"We'll lick our wounds, we'll sharpen our knives again and we'll get back to the job. It's certainly not going to be a pleasant evening."
Chiefs went down 4-0 in the first period, with Sundowns' first three goals coming from set-pieces, and Baxter feels that the discipline and focus from the players let them down.
"I think the whole first half was dominated by the fact that we didn't defend set-plays well. They got three goals from set-plays," he said.
"When you go a goal down and then two goals down, the players have to work with the organisation on set-plays. They have to work with keeping their discipline and not letting the game run away from them.
"If we could have kept it in reach when we came in at half-time, we could have turned a few things and maybe would have had a chance in the second-half.
"But it was the discipline and the inability to defend set-plays.
"I said to the lads at half-time, for me it mirrored what happened on the field. They (Sundowns) were winning headers but they shouldn't have been. It just happened that they were winning headers in our box as well.
"It tells you that we have a lot of work to do. It tells us that the progress that we've made, when we came under real pressure today, the focus buckled. So, it's going to take a while before the progress we've made is nailed down.
"We'll lick our wounds, we'll sharpen our knives again and we'll get back to the job. It's certainly not going to be a pleasant evening."