Kaizer Chiefs struggle for control: Cele labels their performance a crisis

"We're giving the games away ourselves...it's not the opponents that give us problems [but] it's just us. We tend to lose control very easily and it's something that's frustrating,'' Cele said.

Moving swiftly from his feelings of disappointment, Cele uttered the ‘c’ word.

"For Chiefs to be sitting where we're sitting [eighth with 29 points from 23 games], it's not nice...it is a crisis, you can call it a crisis because even us as a team we know that we can do way better. With the coach, it's a message that's always there to say, 'control, control', so that we can create more chances and be calm at the back to win games.

"When you lose control of the game, you find yourself making silly mistakes. We must improve on the control aspect, so that we can be organised when we lose the ball.”

The 28-year-old Cele joined Chiefs in the January transfer window, after spending his formative years as a professional footballer in Europe.

Cele took the unusual route for an SA footballer of beginning his career abroad, with stints in Portugal, Poland, and Russia.

His best spell of his career to date came at Cova da Piedade from 2018 to 2021 as Cele made over 70 appearances for the Portuguese outfit.

Since joining the Soweto giants, Cele has been a standout player and reportedly also drawing the attention of Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos.

@Michael_Sherman

IOL Sport