Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter has explained the rationale behind crowding the left-back position pointing to injuries as the reason why he now has four players competing for the slot on the left flank of his defence this season.

Bafana Bafana international Tsepo Masilela, Zimbabwean Jimmy Jambo, Keagan Ritchie and new teenage signing Simphiwe Mtsweni are now all queuing up for the same position at Chiefs.

So why have so many players for one position when there is also another left-footed defender Tefu Mashamaite capable of slotting in at left-back in desperate situations.

“You said four,” responds Baxter.

“But Jimmy (Jambo) is not going to be available for quite a while to come because of injury. Then you have Tsepo who is playing so well for us at the moment but has a history of knee injuries.

“So with Simphiwe we are bringing him because we want to educate him now. Then we have Keagan who is a quality replacement if anything was to happen to Tsepo or if he (Masilela) loses his form.

“So very quickly your four becomes three and then after that your three is not too many to carry. We want to bring Simphiwe in the way we coach our fullbacks,” explains Baxter.

Jambo – who had a horrific knee injury in October last year – is already back at training and with his desire to play regularly when fully fit it will make up for interesting competition at left-back.

Baxter also adds that he is still in the hunt for a central-defender but is not panicking at all as he believes the situation at the back is manageable with Morgan Gould getting back to full fitness.

“Yes we are (still looking for a centre-back). We will see how everything goes but Morgan’s fitness is improving which eases the pressure.

“With Morgan not 100 percent fit and with Eric Matoho having a broken finger whose prognosis we didn’t know as there was talk of a week to six weeks out at one stage it was risky but then he (Matoho) played 45 minutes against United FC in a reserve match and came through without any hassles.

“And so with those two getting back it eases the pressure,” says Baxter.
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