By The Numbers: Chiefs maintain 100% start

The Glamour Boys had most of the ball throughout the game, and maintained control for extended periods, but could only manage one goal. Yet, they were never really under threat, with the Richard Bay coach expressing his frustration at his team’s “low block” after the game. By The Numbers is a statistical review of a chosen midweek game.

Chiefs’ perfect start

The last few seasons have been very difficult for Chiefs, and that has a lot to do with how they start their league campaigns. In the five seasons post-Covid lockdowns, Chiefs have managed 4 points in their opening three games. Given how they have started the current campaign (9 from 9), Chiefs fans are hoping the club has turned a corner. For now, the results match the optimism. Not only is that a good start, it is the team’s best run in a long time.

3 – league games in a row Chiefs have won

20 – months since Chiefs won 3 in a row

28 – months since Chiefs won MORE than 3 in a row

1 – times Chiefs have gone on a longer run post-Covid

2014 – the last time Chiefs started a season with three straight wins

The final line will be familiar to many readers, because the 2014 start also led to Chiefs winning the league title that season. 11 years to wait for such a strong start is a long time, and it’s fair to say the optimism may be justified. More importantly, they’ve done so showing defensive solidity.

0 – goals conceded by Chiefs this season

3 – times in PSL history Chiefs have started the season with three clean sheets

22 – years since Chiefs started the season with three clean sheets

4 – games Chiefs have gone without conceding (incl. one last season)

6 – years since Chiefs went on a longer run of games

The lowest of low blocks

“We try in the training session to put our players under pressure for … how we can deal with a team when they play against us with a low block…” – Chiefs assistant coach, Khalil Ben Youssef pre-game.

Lots of talk before the game was focused on how Chiefs would fare against the famous “low block”. A low block is a defensive strategy in football where teams choose to sit deep (and barely attack). Teams remain compact, and deny the opposition space in central areas, forcing them to take the ball wide.

The xG map below shows how “unadventurous” Richards Bay was in the game. The two blue dots represent the two shots they managed all game. The flat blue line represents the value of the chances they created, generating 0.09 worth of xG in the game. Put another way: 0.09 xG means you’d need roughly 11 matches to score a single goal at that rate.

2 – shots allowed by Chiefs last night (their fewest in a game under Nabi)

1 – games where Chiefs allowed fewer shots post-Covid (1 v Chippa in November 2020)

Other matches’ stats:

• Keletso Makgalwa became the first player in the PSL’s top-flight to make a hat-trick of assists in a game since Themba Zwane in April 2024 (v TS Galaxy).

• Puso Dithejane is the first-ever TS Galaxy player to score a hat-trick in the top-flight.

• TS Galaxy scored 4 goals against Chippa United – the last time they scored four goals in a league game was also against Chippa (May 2023)