2) Find a makeshift striker
With the side’s obvious scoring woes this term – just four goals scored in six league matches – Baxter has his work cut out. Samir Nurkovic is set to be out injured for two months as explained by Chiefs physio David Milner: “Samir had surgery last week. They found a little tear in the cartilage of the right knee. The surgeon says he could be out between 6 to 8 weeks.”
With Leonardo Castro still out and Dumisani Zuma yet to play this season, the club’s only specialist frontline strikers right now are Lazarous Kambole, who is on the transfer list, and Bernard Parker. Baxter is highly unlikely to turn to the misfiring Zambian, so he has to find a makeshift solution for the next eight weeks at least. Parker has played much deeper over the last couple of years and probably only suits playing a withdrawn forward role or as part of a front two. The criteria for either a false nine or replacement striker is a tough one. Baxter would want a player who can hold onto the ball and link things together but also someone who can score goals.
Nkosingiphile Ngcobo struggled as a false nine against Gallants and is better suited with more time and space to pick his passes. There are some other options as Billiat has played up front in the past, Manyama was picked as a centre-forward by Molefi Ntseki (now at Chiefs) for Bafana Bafana and even Phathutshedzo Nange played very high up for Stellenbosch FC last season and scored five goals. The Soweto giants have players in their squad who can score, but Baxter hasn’t quite found the right mix. The best bet for a makeshift striker role is probably Manyama, who netted eight goals in the league last season. Ntseki selected him exactly a year ago in that role and explained his selection back then, saying, “In terms of how we want him to play, we’ve selected him as a striker. We will be working on him at training to prepare him for the position. We have more of a profile for him where he played as a striker and he did very well.”
Solution: Billiat, Parker and Manyama are all options to play as the striker but the latter perhaps edges the decision.