Chiefs’ six-year curse: The ‘big problem’ plaguing Amakhosi attack

Following a frustrating scoreless draw against a resolute Chippa United side on Wednesday evening, Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Khalil Ben Youssef provided a rare diagnosis of what he termed the club’s “big problem”.

He revealed a deep-seated offensive inefficiency that has plagued the Soweto giants since the 2019/20 season.

The goalless stalemate saw Amakhosi drop to fifth place in the Betway Premiership standings, despite generating several high-quality opportunities. The most glaring example was a gilt-edged chance for Mfundo Vilakazi, who was denied inside the six-yard box by an alert Dumisani Msibi.

The Kaizer Chiefs Historical Problem: A Consistent Decline in Output

The Tunisian mentor, now tasked with improving the team’s structural output, quickly pivoted from praising Chippa’s defensive structure to pinpointing the decisive factor. “When you get a six-metre opportunity one-v-one you don’t score, that’s football,” Ben Youssef stated on SuperSport TV.

He subsequently located the root of the team’s struggles in the failure to convert opportunities in the opposition’s final third—a problem that historical data corroborates as a sustained crisis, not a momentary dip in form. The decline in league goals scored (over 30 games) since their title challenge is stark:

2019/20: 48 goals (finished 2nd)

2020/21: 34 goals (finished 8th)

2021/22: 34 goals (finished 5th)

2022/23: 32 goals (finished 5th)

2023/24: 25 goals (finished 10th)

Since netting 48 goals in the 2019/20 campaign—the last time Chiefs seriously challenged for the title—the club’s average goal tally has stagnated in the low 30s, or even lower, as evidenced by the 25 goals scored in the full 2023/24 season under Cavin Johnson. This consistent lack of offensive punch has directly correlated with their mid-table finishes.

Tactical Attribution and Responsibility

Ben Youssef framed the challenge as a complex mixture of tactical structure and individual capability. “Now we are every time in the final third, and we don’t score. That’s the big problem that we have, and we have to continue to work.”

While attributing the immediate lack of finishing to “the players, individual qualities, one-on-one situations,” the co-coach acknowledged that the burden of remedy falls on the technical team. He stressed the coaching staff’s responsibility is to “fix our mistakes” and ensure the players are equipped to “find the right solutions.”

Chiefs face TS Galaxy in their final match before the AFCON break this Sunday, with the pressure firmly on the coaching staff to devise a strategy that addresses this chronic conversion issue ahead of the crucial second half of the season.