Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Kaizer Chiefs head coach Steve Komphela admits his side struggled to open Bloemfontein Celtic's solid defence in their 0-0 draw at FNB Stadium on Wednesday night.
Amakhosi created a whole host of chances either side of the half-time break, but failed to make them count, as Phunya Sele Sele continued to sit back and catch the hosts on the counter-attack, much to the frustration of Komphela and his players.
"The style of play was totally uncharacteristic of Serame and his Celtic team, playing one-on-one with each man, but we had to try unlocking it and we struggled," he said.
"It was only through combination play that we could do it and I maybe saw that once or twice. When we did that it looked good.
"But we could not create chances. When you want to receive a ball there was someone on your back. So all we needed to do was to bypass the first player, go to the second and then trigger the movement to create superiority.
"But it was completely uncharacteristic of Serame. Compliments to him," Komphela added. "We also needed to be very careful in defence. You could see how they were flooding open spaces.
"There were also instances where we were trying to build and you would have those diagonal runs from (Thapelo) Morena. There was also the effect of (Lantshene) Phalane who can hit long diagonal balls that we had to be careful of.
"Those were all the dynamics that we needed to manage in the match. As much as we would have loved to play, they didn't let us play and in instances when we had to go forward a bit quicker we were a little bit reluctant.
"Every time we wanted to play one touch, we lost possession. There were too many turn overs from both teams. Maybe we needed to keep possession more so that we can create opportunities.
"If I am smart, Serame is smarter than me but if he says under circumstances I would say above circumstances. If he says he is happy, I am not happy. We are just looking forward to the next two matches to wrap up the season."
