Kaizer Chiefs head coach Zwane continues to back Khama Billiat

Barely a week after saying Khama Billiat is one of his squad’s key players, Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has once again backed the former Zimbabwe Warriors talismanic forward.

Billiat, 31, is facing a lot of criticism from a section of the club’s faithful following an unconvincing start to the DSTV 2022/23 campaign.

The Soweto giants are surprisingly seated on 12th position on the log table and have managed two wins in six games played so far.

Despite having embarked on a massive clear out during the pre-season, bringing in on board new players, Amakhosi are still struggling to win games to convince their supporters

Their disgruntled supporters have pointed out the talented Billiat as one of the stars who has currently failed their team.

However, their disgruntlements as well as their messages of criticism towards Billiat have continued to fall on the deaf ears of his coach Zwane.

The former Chiefs player still believes in the quality Billiat brings into his team.

“These (Billiat and Njabulo Ngcobo) are seasoned campaigners and they only need our help as coaches.

“We are not there to judge them and even the best players in the world sometimes lose form,” said Zwane after their goalless draw with in form Amazulu on Saturday.

“This is a game of football. People will have a plan for you, they will try to nullify your strengths to weaken you.

“These are two players who will obviously play a prominent role going forward. But not only them, all the players that we have at our disposal deserve a fair chance and that is what we are going to do.

“We are not going to keep players who we do not feel are good enough to be part of the team but all of the players who are there have done enough to be part of the team and will get a fair chance to play.”

Zwane also shared the same sentiments last week regarding the criticism that has been faced by the ex-Mamelodi Sundowns attacker who however is yet to score this season.

“I’m not really concerned and I will tell you why I’m not concerned. It’s still in the season,” Zwane told iDiskiTimes.

“You can only judge them (Billiat and Dolly) by the end of the season. It might be a case of they started slow but at the end of the day, we need them.

“They are one of our key players, we need them on the field, last season they played a crucial role in helping the team collect maximum points in certain games.”

Since joining the club back in 2018 from the defending champions Sundowns, Billiat hasn’t won any trophy with Chiefs.