Shabalala must boost goals and assists – Kaze

Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Cedric Kaze has no doubt that utility playmaker Mduduzi Shabalala has huge potential, challenging him to improve his statistics as far as goals and assists are concerned.

Shabalala netted a brace in Chiefs’ 4-1 thumping of rookies Orbit College at FNB Stadium on Tuesday, where Mfundo Vilakazi and Flavio Silva were also on target for the home side, while Ayanda Lukhele netted what ended as a mere consolation for Mswenkoboys.

“I believe that a player like Shabalala is a player that has big potential. He’s still 21, and he can still improve in so many areas, and one of them is as a No. 10, he needs to contribute more in the areas that he is supposed to help in... which are the goals and the assists,” Kaze said.

Even so, Kaze is convinced that Shabalala has improved a bit in terms of decision-making inside the box.

“I’d say that probably there was a moment in the past when he got inside the box, [and] he was taking more touches than needed, but it’s something that we’re correcting every day. The good thing with him is that he’s willing to learn,” Kaze said.

Kaze also lauded his troops’ mentality against Orbit, explaining how he saw the game. “We got into the game with the right attitude [and] the right mentality. We were able to press, to play forward and find spaces,” he said.

“We scored very early, but I feel like after 20, 25 minutes we took our foot off the pedal, and we allowed the opponent to be comfortable in the build-ups, getting into dangerous areas.”

The Chiefs co-coach, who works jointly with Khalil Ben Youssef, was thrilled with the rare four goals as well as the three points.

“It’s the first time since I have been here that we scored four goals in the league. I am very happy for that as well as for the three points,” Kaze said.

Sowetan