Stuart Baxter: Why I axed Itumeleng Khune from Kaizer Chiefs squad

Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter has explained why Itumeleng Khune played no part in Amakhosi’s opening match of the 2021/22 DStv Premiership season.

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Not only did Khune not start in goal for the Glamour Boys in their 0-0 stalemate against TS Galaxy on Sunday, he wasn’t even named among the substitutes.

Khune had started for Kaizer Chiefs in the previous weekend’s MTN8 quarter-final defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns.

In this past weekend’s draw against TS Galaxy, Baxter opted for Bruce Bvuma to start with Daniel Akpeyi on the bench.

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Amakhosi supporters were somewhat surprised not to see Khune in the match-day squad especially after Baxter’s praise for the 34-year-old of late.

Baxter told the media that Khune was dropped purely as a tactical reason and not through any fault of his own or anything related to the MTN8 loss.

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“(There is) nothing wrong with him, nothing he did against Sundowns. We just thought that this would be a longer game from their side. As it turns out, it was. So, it was was going to be a more mobile, out of your penalty area sort of goalkeeper’s role. We thought Bruce was the best one of our four who was more suited to that.

“I spoke we Itu before we left and I said ‘I am not going to put you on the bench, you stay here and train hard and it’s up for grabs again on Wednesday (against Baroka FC),” Stuart Baxter confirmed.

Kaizer Chiefs will next be in action when they host Baroka FC at the FNB Stadium on Wednesday, 25 August.

Kick-off is at 17:00.

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