Kaizer Chiefs coach gives damning assessment of Stellenbosch defeat | OneFootball

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Chiefs coach speaks on losing to Stellies

Photo: Khalil Ben Youssef

Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Khalil Ben Youssef has given an honest assessment on his team's defeat to Stellenbosch FC in the Betway Premiership on Tuesday.

The Soweto giants fell to second half goals from Langelihle Phili and Devin Titus after Flavio Da Silva had opened the scoring in the first stanza.

Chiefs remain fourth with 30 points from 16 league outings, while the Cape Winelands outfit sit 11th with 19 points amassed from 17 games.

Reflecting on the match, Ben Youssef issued an apology to the Amakhosi faithful as he bemoaned missed chances, and believes Stellenbosch deserved to walk away with maximum points.

“First we have to apologise to our fans, we are so sorry for this result. I think we dominated the first half, we were better than the opposing team, we created a lot of opportunities, we missed a lot of chances in the first half,” he said.

"I think what we say always and we repeat - when you're better than the opposing team and you get opportunities, you have to finish the game, you have to score. We missed a lot of chances. We started the second half very bad, we conceded the first goal in the first five minutes.

"And then we tried to make substitutions to add value to the team, but I think Stellenbosch in the second half was better than us, and I think also they deserved to win this game. Like I said, we have to apologise to our fans, now we don't have a lot of time to discuss, in three days we will have another game and also it's an important game, we have to think about the next game, and we have to continue to work and prepare for the next game.

On the substitutions, the Tunisian mentor admitted that the fresh legs left a lot to be desired, which he says should be a learning curve for the technical team.

“We tried to make the substitutions and to add value to the team, unfortunately, the players coming from the bench didn't bring what we expected from them,” Ben Youssef added.

"For that I think sometimes we also have to criticize ourselves and make right analysis about ourselves, about our performances. Sometimes when we are not good we have to say that we are not good, and we have to correct our mistakes.

Chiefs will return to league action with a clash against bitter rivals Orlando Pirates in the highly-anticipated Soweto derby on Saturday, 28 February.