Arthur Zwane gives judgment on Siyethemba Sithebe

Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has given his judgment on Siyethemba Sithole who’s been out of action for the last eight months.

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Sithebe was handed an Amakhosi debut in his home province and surprisingly, he played the full match. It felt like an overload for the 29-year-old who was however able to handle himself.

Zwane says the midfielder was affected by not playing for such a long period before he joined the Glamour Boys.

‘HIS ENERGY LEVELS DROPPED’ – ZWANE ON SITHEBE

“As you could see, his energy levels dropped, you could see he lost the balls cheaply at some points,” Zwane said when asked by The South African.

“And he was even afraid of going there half turn and be able to see the runners and because they [Royal AM] were open.

“They were open several times, Njabulo [Blom] could have done better in terms of decision-making allowing us to punish them.

“And like I said, if the goalkeeper can be the man of the match, it says it all.”

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‘10111’ NOT AFRAID TO LOSE HIS JOB

Asked if he’s not under pressure especially after Kaizer Chiefs two biggest rivals – Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates – won their first games, Zwane said you can’t be a coach with “fear”.

“You know once you’re a coach and you have fear of losing your job, don’t even try to be a PSL coach,” he said.

“I’m telling you now, we’re rebuilding this team on the right track and we going to get it right. We going to win some games and we going to win with flair, we’ll do much better. Even today we were a better team at some point.”

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SITHEBE HAPPY TO START A NEW CHAPTER

Sithebe may be relieved now after he penned a deal with the Soweto giants, but admitted that not playing football for eight months negatively affected him.

“Obviously (it affected me) because I used to play each and every game, but when they said I won’t play anymore, that affected me,” Sithebe said as per IOL.

“I am happy that I wasn’t injured, though, because I had been injured before. Now I am starting a new season (with a clean bill of health) with a new team.”