Stuart Baxter believes Kaizer Chiefs’ early-season performance has already exceeded his expectations, but he is still waiting for his squad to mature into “beautiful trees.”
Amakhosi will start off their DStv Premiership campaign against TS Galaxy on Sunday at the Mbombela Stadium, with their eyes set on a considerably better season than last season, when Gavin Hunt was dismissed with two games remaining to play in the league, and the club was still not entirely secure from relegation.
The Chiefs will be hoping that Baxter can recapture the golden days of his previous tenure, when they won two titles in three seasons between 2012 and 2015. Management has definitely backed him up in the transfer window with a slew of new players, and Chiefs were outstanding in coming back from two goals down in the MTN8 quarterfinals last weekend, even though they ultimately lost on penalties.
In the preseason Carling Black Label Cup, the Chiefs defeated the Orlando Pirates on penalties.
Baxter certainly seems happy enough with the progress up to now.
“I think there has been more than I really thought we get,” said the Chiefs head coach.
“Our movement around the box was better in the second half versus Pirates, and even at moments in the early half, and our ball possession was better not only in transition, but also in longer ones when we had to choose our way through a little bit.
“We got off to a bad start against Sundowns… But then we stepped up and came back from a 2-0 deficit… We had the option of folding, which was satisfying. I wouldn’t say we’re anywhere close to where we want to be, but the seeds have begun to sprout; I’m not claiming we’ve seen any magnificent trees yet.”
[the_ad id=”2179″]Chiefs might also draw heart from the fact that the TS Galaxy encounter at Mbombela Stadium was also the last match of the previous season for both clubs, which Amakhosi won to edge past Galaxy and into the top eight in the Premiership.
For Baxter, there is also the recollection of Chiefs losing an MTN8 quarterfinal to Mamelodi Sundowns in his first match in command in August 2012, crushed 4-1, but his team came back to smash AmaZulu 6-0 in their first Premiership encounter of the season.
[the_ad_placement id=”adsense-in-feed”]“I think Bernard Parker scored four,” recalled Baxter, correctly.
“I would be delighted if that was the case (again). Is it likely? No, but I would be happy if we got off to a good start, and gave a good performance.”
