The war between Middendorp and Chiefs will never be fully resolved as long as the two parties choose to tolerate each other.

Here is how this war plays itself out...

A thread https://twitter.com/thatishi/status/1296138824993640449

Kaizer Chiefs were build on being a hip, trendy, sexy and moving with the times.

This meant that the fans got used to watching their team not just win, but win with a style and swagger. This has meant that successful coaches who have not embraced the beauty of football...

...have found themselves at odds with the Amakhosi faithful. One could go back decades for examples of successful Chiefs coaches who never won over the fans because of the team's style of play.

It was just not the "Kaizer Chiefs way".

When Ted Dumitru was appointed for the 2nd time as Head Coach in 2003 after the team had not won the league title in 11 years, there was genuine excitement as a result of the work he had done with winning back-to-back titles with Sundowns.

And Ted didn't disappoint.

He had Chiefs playing some electrifying football, with Shoes top-scoring as a second striker in the title winning team of 2003/04.
In 2004/05, he added Mbesuma to the lineup and Chiefs were free-scoring as they clinched a second title in a row.

After he left, the team went into another league title drought that would last for 7 seasons.
Then Stuart Baxter was appointed in 2012.
His team became a counterattacking machine in his first season. They punished teams in "transition" and the title was secured.

The following season, they did very well to finish on 63 points, but Sundowns were better,and this meant a 2nd place finish. This is when fans started questioning the style of play. There was a heavy reliance on set-pieces, even though the team could still play some lovely stuff.

The 2014/15 season saw tow things happen at the beginning of the season that would set Chiefs up for the title. Bernard Parker and Siphiwe Tshabalala got injured before the season started. This was a blessing-in-disguise as it forced Baxter to use the MaLeMa combination.

With Nkhatha leading the line and Maluleka, Lebese and Masango behind him, and Yeye as playmaker, Chiefs could hurt teams in transition, open teams employing the low block and still be deadly on set-pieces. Playing Chiefs in the 1st half of the season meant choosing your poison.

Parker and Tshabalala got fit around December and Baxter dismantled MaLeMa to accommodate them. Suddenly Chiefs lost the ability to hurt teams in transitions. This had the effect of teams pressing Chiefs high up and playing a high line as there was no threat of pace out wide.

Chiefs relied exclusively on set-pieces and 1-0 wins. Fans were unhappy with the sudden change from the beautiful football played when MaLeMa were being used to the kick-and-hope that was employed in the second part of the season. Baxter constantly had to justify his tactics.

Chiefs won the title by 12 points, but you wouldn't have known this if you had just judged by the reaction of the fans. Baxter was at odds with the Chiefs management about new signings for the team and this saw him leave at the end of that season as a league champion.

Chiefs went on a 4 year title drought and in the 5th year, Ernst Middendorp was surprisingly brought back mid-season after Solinas had failed to get the team going. Middendorp had previously failed to win the fans over with his conservative tactics. He was no fan-favorite.

Chiefs drew so many games under him in his 1st spell with the team that he was given the nickname Middendraw.

In the second half of the season Middendorp did nothing to suggest he had changed his conservative tactics that made the fans have issues with him.

When Chiefs shocked everyone by starting the 2019/20 season like a house on fire, a lot of fans were willing to put up with the conservative football by Middendorp if it meant a first title win after a 5 year drought. This marriage of convenience is very tenuous though.

Middendorp believes in playing percentage football. He believes in defensive solidity, and playing the ball quickly to the forwards and letting them cause havoc in the last 3rd. He sees no need for a CM whose job is to control the tempo of the game through recycling possession.

For him, his midfielders must either assist in the defensive phase, or get the ball to the forwards as quickly as possible. Possession for the sake of controlling the game is alien to him. He sees possession football as a risk. He is not willing to take this risk.

When he is free to choose his system, Middendorp prefers playing with 3 at the back, with 2 wing-backs who offer cover on the flanks, and push up and join in attacks. This allows his teams to play a DM to assist the defense and an AM to assist the attack. No place for a CM.

He only deploys a CM to control possession occasionally when he feels that the opposition require this of him (for example Baccus vs Pirates). No matter how well this tactic works, he abandons it as his earliest convenience because he just doesn't believe in possession football.

After each loss, Middendorp is often forced to change his midfield to include players who are good in possession of the ball. But soon enough, those players are dropped(no matter how well they did) and his favorite system is deployed, and we have a crisis, then he gives in again.

Baccus and Ngcobo are examples of players who have played in the middle and given the team the ability to control games through possession, but they have been dropped even after helping the team win games. They just don't fit into his vision of football.

What fans want to see, ie, attacking football with a dominant midfield, is the opposite of what he believes serves the team best, ie, less possession and playing the percentages with long balls and set-pieces.
It's a marriage not meant to last due to ideological differences.

Whatever happens from this point on this season, Chiefs and Middendorp are best served going their separate ways because the stability the team sought when he was brought back has been achieved, but the impetus needed going forward is not going to come from him.