JOHANNESBURG – Bloemfontein Celtic coach Veselin Jelusic has admitted that his team are missing the creativity of Kabelo Mahlasela in the middle of the park and has challenged his management to look at their transfer policy.
Mahlasela left Phunya Sele Sele and joined Kaizer Chiefs on a two and half year contract in this transfer window. He has been ruled out for four months at Chiefs after getting injured in his first training session with his new club.
He was one of the star players for Celtic this season after the departure of Musa Nyatama, who is now plying his trade at Orlando Pirates.
Celtic are struggling at the moment. They haven’t won in six matches. On Wednesday they played out to 0-0 stalemate with AmaZulu in Durban.
Celtic's last victory was back on December 10 against Free State Stars at home.
“Mahlasela is a very talented and creative player. We miss him and other players who left the club at the beginning of the season. But we have the players that we have at moment and we must trust them. We wish Mahlasela all the best but we must also think about our future when we transfer players that we have,” Jelusic explained.
Celtic will next face the high-flying Cape Town City in an Absa Premiership clash at Dr Molemela Stadium on Sunday eager to get back to winning ways.
“Our approach we will always be the same. We will try to be positive and strive to win the game.
“We’ve played one game at home and three away matches. We collected three points at home and one point away from home. We have a problem (when playing away) and we are aware of it."
He also believes doing well in the knockout competition came at a price.
"We competed in the cup competition and it cost us in the last two months. We didn’t have any rest. We were playing Wednesday and Saturdays. We had four days to prepare for the second half of the season. It is the main reason why we have struggled for form in our matches. I’m sure by February we will be in better shape and get better results,” he said.