Kaizer Chiefs coach bemoans fixture congestion, highlights area of improvement | OneFootball

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Youssef on fixture congestion, key area to improve

Photo: Veli Nhlapo

Kaizer Chiefs assistant coach Khalil Ben Youssef has bemoaned the fixture congestion and pinpointed a key area of improvement for the team.

The Soweto giants will tackle AmaZulu in a Betway Premiership encounter at FNB Stadium on Wednesday (19h30), on the back of securing passage to the next round of the CAF Confederation Cup last Saturday.

With games coming thick and fast, the Tunisian mentor admitted juggling continental and domestic duties is not a walk in the park.

“It’s tough when you play games every two days - when there’s a lot of games it’s tough because you don’t have time. But if your team is in a good form [it’s manageable],” said Ben Youssef.

“It was better for us when we started [the season] but when you have small problems after Sekhukhune, conceding the three goals [it’s tough] and we need time to work and we don’t have time, that’s the problem.

“But all the teams in the world play games every three days, they have to work like that, it’s not tough. We must be like that, and we are a big team with a big squad.

Ben Youssef went on to highlight the attacking department as a key area of improvement amid a persistent lack of cutting edge in front of goals.

“The only problem we have until now is the last third. We create opportunities every game, but we are in a situation where we don’t score a lot of goals,” he added.

“The last game against Marumo Gallants we scored the first goal, and we got three opportunities to score the second goal to finish the game, and we didn’t score. You will always be in difficult situations where you can concede any moment, and it happened in that game.

“If you remember against Polokwane City, we were a little bit frustrated when the players started to jog when we were about to finish the game. We were angry at them because these kinds of games you have to finish them.

Youssef continued: “We are focused on everything, but we are thinking more about the last third, the decision making, the last pass and how we can get the right pass. I think we have to work a lot on that.