Ernst Middendorp Insight
Ernst Middendorp Insight

Posted in News on Nov 10, 2005.

Our week has progressed at a snails pace and it was a very slow week given some of the recent frantic weeks we have gone through where we have had to play almost three games a week.

We have enjoyed the peace and quiet with a few of our players on duty with Bafana Bafana and one with the Under Twenty Three National team - we have been able to work on our combination play and do some tactical work. We have continued with our bi-daily training sessions and also played a friendly game on Thursday evening, which was good match practise for some of the guys who have been inactive for a while.



After our defeat in the Coca Cola to Jomo Cosmos this past weekend the technical team and I have done some introspection into our team with regards to our recent performances.

After much deliberation we have come to various conclusions regarding the players we have and the material we need to bring into our squad to make us a stronger team. Taking into account that the PSL has brought forward the transfer window for this season to December, we are in a favourable position to bring in the keys we are looking for and hopefully go into the break for the African Cup of Nations ahead in the league.



Firstly we have identified players that we feel will help the team in various ways; we are not in a panic situation so we not looking for a quick fix solution to any thing. Our objective is to bring in players to aid us in the medium term and the long term.

Currently we have many young players who lack experience so we will bring in players who are young but have experience. Having said that - we do have some senior players who will in the next few seasons be on their way out and we need them to be passing on their valuable experience to younger players.



So what are we actually looking for in terms of players? Firstly we cannot go outside of South Africa as we have our full quota of foreign players - although selling one of them might be an option I will explore. We need a good left footed player who could slot in at left back and also help and be creative when we attack which will make us a more potent attacking force.



One of the players I am in the hunt for is a central attacking midfielder who is strong on his feet and can launch attacks from deep, hopefully we can find a player for this position who can use both feet as it would be to our advantage. The player I have in mind for this position should be able to create goals as well convert the chances created by the midfielders, as we have seen that we are making chances but are not able to make them count.



Obviously we have had to look at finding an ‘out and out’ striker. I have two players in mind that I feel will be able to solve our goal scoring problem. Louis Agyemang is playing well and is coming into his own recently - he needs to be backed up by someone who can help him upfront and support him when he creates chances. The strikers I have identified are tall firm players similar to the kind of strikers Cosmos have.Players who can give a defence a hard time as well as possess a real poachers instinct.



Having said all of that there are also certain players from our side that will be sold off. If that be the case or that some are loaned out to other teams for experience purposes. There comes a time when you need to use your head and not your heart when making a decision - one needs to be realistic about certain things including the contribution that a certain player or players can still make at Chiefs.

It is easy for someone to earn a salary sitting on the bench but you need substitutes as effective as or more than the eleven one has out on the field. Some of the players will be used in swop deals with teams to make it easier for us to purchase the players we are looking for.



All our negotiations are currently under way and we would like to have them concluded before the end of the month, so that when the transfer window opens we can complete the registration formalities. I would like to have the new players ready for all our games in December as we have a busy schedule from start to finish as what will be a busy final month of the year.



At the end of the month if all goes according to plan there should be a few new faces in the famous gold and black colours of Kaizer Chiefs.

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