Kaizer Chiefs legend Siphiwe Tshabalala admits his former team have lost their identity.
The former Bafana winger won two league titles during his time with Amakhosi.
In fact, the last time the DStv Premiership side won the South African top-flight was in 2015 when Tshabalala was bombing down the wing for the Soweto giants.
Now when he looks at the current set-up, the former player has explained that while Chiefs still have good players, they don’t have experienced seniors throughout the team to guide the youngsters coming through.
Tshabalala even went as far as comparing Chiefs to rivals Orlando Pirates, as while Kelebohile Mofokeng has been in fine form for the Buccaneers this season, the same cannot be said of Mduduzi Tshabalala and Wandile Duba.
Tshabalala told iDiski Times: “Conversation is key mostly with young players.
“I’ll give examples, Mofokeng is playing well, and is a regular, he’s getting game time, which is good for him, good for football. And he looks like he’s in an environment where he’s being guided, where he’s being mentored and also being protected.
“And now he’s at a level where he can be thrown into the deep end. You can only improve when you play, you cannot improve on the bench and when you’re not a regular.
“With Chiefs it’s a bit different now because of the situation. I said it before, there are good players at Chiefs, the club doesn’t have bad players, the challenge is that they don’t have a team.
“There’s no structure currently, there’s no identity, it looks more reliant on individual brilliance [to win games] more than a team structure and it becomes a problem for the youngsters when they are promoted to the first team, because they come into an environment where the team is not doing well, not winning.”
Tshabalala continued: “And now when they are being introduced as well, they get lost because there’s no structure or identity, they don’t even know what patterns of play, style of play.
“So when they play, they’re [doing] things relying on their talent, rather than the structure of the team. They come into a tough environment, with pressure, a lot of criticism, so that’s where mentorship is required, a lot of conversations are needed to prepare them, keep them grounded and also to let them know they are good players, they are capable of being great players.”