Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana legend Katlego ‘Killer’ Mphela says the onus is on the senior players in the Amakhosi squad to lead the side out of their current slump.
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The Glamour Boys are winless in their last four DStv Premiership matches and find themselves in 12th position in the standings with just six points after six matches thanks to one win, three draws and two defeats.
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This comes despite the return of Stuart Baxter as head coach, the last man to have led Amakhosi to silverware way back in 2015.
But Mphela, 36, says that Baxter is only partly to blame and that the experienced players in the changing room must shoulder the responsibility for the team’s poor performances.
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“I think the players need to take responsibility. Senior players need to step up. At the end of the day it is them who are on the field of play,” Mphela told Goal.
“We can criticise the coach as much as we want but at the end of the day, it is the players on the pitch. Chiefs have quality players, the likes of Dolly, they still have Billiat, [Samir] Nurkovic, Manyama, so they need to take responsibility to get out of this mess the team is in.
“At the end of the day, it will not only be about the coach. They need to step up because the next win they might get is in December. They do not have time, Chiefs fans do not have patience.”
Mphela played 17 matches in all competitions for Kaizer Chiefs as well as 122 for Mamelodi Sundowns and 31 for SuperSport United.
He also has 53 caps and 23 goals for Bafana Bafana.
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Kaizer Chiefs will next be in action after the upcoming FIFA international window against Chippa United at the FNB Stadium on Saturday, 16 October at 17:30.
