Kaizer Chiefs’ Stuart Baxter gives honest answer: ‘Cheque book is not the solution’

Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter gave an honest appraisal of the situation following his side’s goalless draw to kick off their 2021/22 DStv Premiership season.

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The Glamour Boys were held to a 0-0 scoreline by TS Galaxy at the Mbombela Stadium on Sunday.

Despite having signed the likes of Keagan Dolly, Sifiso Hlanti, Kgaogelo Sekgota, Phathutshedzo Nange and Cole Alexander – as well as several other – Amakhosi failed to get their DStv Premiership season off to a winning start.

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They are already two points behind defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns.

In a post-match interview with SuperSport TV, Baxter said that by throwing more money into acquiring more players was not the solution to their problems.

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“Going into the first game you know very little because you’ve got very little to go on,” Baxter said.

“They’ve got new players and you don’t know if the coach is going to change. In principle, they played the way we thought they would play. We just weren’t good enough. Our quality was too poor, especially on the breakdown.

“To get longer attacks and pick our way through a man-to-man inspired type of defence, when we did I thought we looked okay, but we didn’t do it enough and the decision-making on the pitch wasn’t good enough tonight.

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“Samir was frustrated because good players usually are when they’re not performing well. So Samir was trying very hard but he just wasn’t producing what he can produce. So Keagan’s fitness allows him to play half an hour, forty minutes, a half. So we looked for the mobility and when he first came on I got what I wanted but because the decision making drifted in and out we didn’t get it enough.

“It’s a frustrating evening. A point away from home you’re on the board. We get more information and hopefully the players like Keagan get those extra minutes and we can make tweaks to the way we play. And hopefully we will take three points in our next game.

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“I think the build-up play has got to be there before you get strikes on goal. I think there was one strike from us, one strike from them and everything else was a war of attrition. Some sort of quality or a set play was going to win the game but neither side produced that so maybe 0-0 was the best both of us could hope for.

“Cheque books don’t usually solve anything. I think if you draw a game 0-0 away from home and then your only solution is the cheque book then that’s a big question mark against the coach. We’ll do some good work on the training ground, we’ll try and inspire them. Our first line of attack will be to do the work on the training ground,” Stuart Baxter concluded.

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Kaizer Chiefs will next be in action when they host Baroka FC on Wednesday, 25 August.

Kick-off is at 17:00.