Miguel Gamondi points out Kaizer Chiefs' glaring weakness

Gamondi saw his side humiliate the South African giants 4-0 in the inaugural Toyota Cup pre-season match played in front of a sold-out crowd at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein yesterday. 

The Argentine tactician, who is no stranger to SA football, having coached Mamelodi Sundowns and the now-defunct Platinum Stars, says it’s not a good sign to watch a big team like Chiefs struggling because of a lack of top-quality players.

"You cannot become a big team overnight. In my opinion, the expectations [of Chiefs] are too high. I always say, in football you need players, even [Pep] Guardiola says his success in Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Man City is about the players," said Gamondi.

"In my case, particularly, I prefer starting slow and building, and then you come to the reality [of what can be achieved]. I think today, from a tactical point of view, he gave a lesson on how it is to play an international game. 

"It's not easy, but you need to have experience. I think today Kaizer Chiefs put four or five young players, but you cannot expect to win at a high level with young, inexperienced players."

Gamondi is well aware of what Nabi is capable of, having succeeded the Tunisian-Belgian mentor at Yanga – where he left a very competitive squad that won back-to-back Tanzanian Premier League titles in 2021/22 and 2022/23, before their latest title in 2023/24.

"I'm not criticising the level of Kaizer Chiefs, but for me, the biggest club is difficult to manage players and the expectations – you create big expectation, and then after you must perform on the pitch, there are no excuses," he added.

"But I spoke with the coach [Nabi] and encouraged him, there's a lot of work to do, but I think if you want to compete in the domestic league against teams like Mamelodi Sundowns, Orlando Pirates, Cape Town City, you need to improve a lot.

"It not easy, coaches can work on the pitch during the week, but if you don't have quality, it's will be difficult."

READ: Kaizer Chiefs’ DNA is paramount, says Nasreddine Nabi