It's crazy to think that it's almost five years since Thembinkosi Lorch won the PSL Footballer of the Season award. That 2018/19 was a magical campaign for the playmaker as he netted 15 goals in all competitions and drew interest from clubs like Dijon, Club Brugge and Royale Union Saint-Gilloise. No move materialised and the player's career never reached anywhere near the same heights again. Whilst he remained key player for Orlando Pirates whenever he wasn't injured or dealing with off-field problems, it felt like his career was drifting to a disappointing close. Instead, his former mentor Rulani Mokwena stepped in to buy him for a large chunk of cash in January. Despite all the competition at Mamelodi Sundowns, he is already making his mark. Whilst he may be 30 years old, are we about to see something of an "Indian summer" for the player affectionately known as "Nyoso"? Can he be the one to fire Downs to the Holy Grail of another CAF Champions League crown? Soccer Laduma takes a fixed gaze.
Can Sundowns keep him fit?
Whatever you say about Thembinkosi Lorch, he usually performs to a high level when he is fully fit and motivated. It's rare to see him carrying significant extra weight, and whilst a lot of that is down to body type, it does bode well for his prospects of delivering deep into his 30s.
At Mamelodi Sundowns, an individualised and dedicated periodisation plan is needed for someone who could easily be labelled as "injury-prone". After all, things like shin splits and fluid on the knee have bothered him in the last few years. Even in his glorious 2018/19 campaign, Lorch only played 73% of the minutes in the league. That number dwindled as the years went on. He played just 1718 minutes a season later, about 63% of the pitch time up for grabs. In the 2020/21 season, he went below half of the available game-time at 48% and the 2021/22 campaign only brought 36% of pitch time, featuring in fewer than half the matches.
Last season, it was 12 DStv Premiership outings 10 starts, two substitute appearances) with around 36% involvement in league action. Basically, if you can keep the versatile attacker fit, then you can extract the very best out of him. Since arriving at the Chloorkop-based club, he has featured in all eight matches that Sundowns have played.
Rhulani Mokwena has eased Lorch into action and it's paying dividends in terms of his availability. Aside from that, Downs need to get Lorch scoring more regularly. He has already notched three cup goals in the Brazilians shirt, which is a positive sign. Since that season where he scored 15 goals (nine in the league, six in the cups), his goals have dried up somewhat. In league action, the next three campaigns from 2019 to 2022 only saw him score three times in 4,000 minutes of DStv Premiership football.
What is his best position?
This question has been asked many times and the answer is still not clear. Lorch can play, and has played on the left wing, down the right flank, as a false nine, as a number 10, as an inside forward and even as shuttler. He is incredibly multi-functional, so perhaps he simply does not have a best role. Few players in the country have his skill-set in terms of being able to hit switches of play, make in-to-out runs behind fullbacks, score goals, create goals and even occasionally do key roles for the team defensively. For Bafana Bafana at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, he played mostly as a left winger. For Sundowns so far, we've seen him moving all over the pitch in the team's very narrow, interchangeable 3-4-3 diamond/3-box-3 shape. He looks born to play in the fluid Sundowns front line with freedom to move deep, wide, run into depth or to shoot from distance.
At Orlando Pirates, Mokwena largely played him as a number 10 but we even saw him excelling and working hard on the right of a midfield diamond in a game against Sundowns. Later on, he played on the left of a diamond in the Carling Black Label Cup due to the supporters only voting central midfielder into their starting XI.
Leaving comfort zone was needed
For Lorch, Pirates had become a comfort zone. There were three reasons why this is true. Firstly, he never really had the level of competition for his place where it was ever likely he would be benched. Whenever he was fit and available, coaches would select one of their very best players.
The second reason is that he was clearly a big and dominant presence in the dressing room and held a lot of sway and influence over his teammates. The final reason is that Bucs seemingly considered him untouchable. Even underperformance, by his standards, for four successive seasons didn't put his place at the club under threat.
Even the court case which saw him handed a three-year sentence, suspended for five years, was not enough to genuinely threaten his standing at Pirates. With these three factors, the player needed a move. Lorch going to Sundowns sees him having to integrate with new players and to compete with plenty of top players in his positions, like Themba Zwane, Gaston Sirino, Junior Mendieta, Lucas Ribeiro Costa, Matias Esquivel, Tashreeq Matthews and Neo Maema, amongst others.
Mokwena's knowledge of psychology is important at Sundowns and he under-stands the process which Lorch has to go through with the club. The coach said: "He comes from a team where he's established the hierarchy because of the number of years in the change room. He comes into the Sundowns change room, he's got history and profile, but he's got to establish himself in the hierarchy, in the structure, in the dynamics within the group. I know because I worked with him, and I know when he's settled and when he's not. So, when he arrived I could see, I look at the body language, I look, and now I can see a little bit more enthusiastic, he's got a spring in his step. And that's what I was waiting for, and you can't rush that."
This shows that Lorch has left a cushy comfort zone for something new. He has to prove himself all over again and that can only be good for the player and the person.
Stats – His start to life at Downs
So far, it's eight outings in a Sundowns shirt for Lorch. Whilst we don't have his stats in the Nedbank Cup, we can look at his data from his league and CAF Champions League outings. Against Pirates on his debut, Lorch played behind Shalulile and Ribeiro as a number 10.
It was a tough first outing as he didn't have any shots or create any chances as the cohesion with his teammates wasn't quite there. Against AmaZulu FC, he was left on the bench and got 17 minutes where he was relatively quiet with the game already in the bag.
Away to FC Nouadhibou, Lorch made his first appearance in the CAF Champions League since March 2019. A player of his talent should always be playing in Africa's premier club competition. He immediately began to make up for lost time with a late goal. In his 20 minutes off the bench, he had two shots, created a chance and had four touches in the penalty area. Against TP Mazembe, it was another outing from the bench as Downs looked to keep the ball and secure top spot.
He didn't have much impact, but he completed 11 of his 13 passes to see out the victory. In the PSL win over Chippa United, Lorch again formed a front three with Shalulile and Ribeiro, playing behind the duo but moving wide at times. His 80 minutes of action didn't see a shot attempted… no wonder Mokwena has been on his case to have more efforts at goal.
The last match saw a 1-1 draw against SuperSport United, a game in which Sundowns had 78% possession but just three shots on target. Lorch had one of those efforts on goal from two attempts and he had seven touches in the box from a largely right-sided role. In all, there have been flashes in his early days in the Mamelodi Sundowns shirt but the Maritzburg United brace was where he really announced himself.
Lorch Has Arrived!
Robert Nkosi – Mamelodi Sundowns supporter
"You know, Thembinkosi Lorch has always been a good player. He joined a team that has no average players, which means he has joined a team full of stars. When a star joins other stars, without taking anything away from his former teammates, he doesn't get any problems or challenges when it comes to settling in. Lorch has hit the ground running since joining us because he's joined a team of top-quality players. No one can deny the fact that he was the biggest name at his previous club but he has now joined a team with even bigger names. That means he will be learning a lot of new things and that can only improve his game. If you check, unlike other teams, we don't have a new signing sitting on the bench. They are all making an impact unless they are injured. That's because there is a lot of work put into our signings. We don't just sign anyone, and they join a team with a clear playing philosophy and culture. Not anyone can play for us, which is why we don't sign 'fly-by-nights', we take time to monitor a player and when he joins, he is ready to fit into our system. We sign quality because we have quality. When quality meets quality, only the best can come out of it. Lorch has arrived! Honestly, people have not seen anything yet because we still expect a lot more from him. Like I said, we don't just sign anyone, we sign people who will fit into our system. To our supporters, let's not put him under unnecessary pressure because we can all see what he has been doing. Let's just continue to support him because any quality player wants to go where there is quality. He wants to participate in the continent, where he will be testing himself against some of the best in the continent, not just our country. Top players play in the Champions League every season and you don't just take anyone there. Lorch wants to be there and he also wants to see himself in the FIFA Club World Cup and who can take him there other than Sundowns? We welcome him to Chloorkop with open arms and promise to continue rallying behind him and the team.He must just enjoy his game and continue to work hard, everything will fall into place."
A Player Reborn
Whilst we know Lorch produced quality at Pirates in recent seasons, especially in cup matches, he was a long way from the player he should be. The move to Sundowns already looks to be breathing new life into his game as he nears his 31st birthday.
Whereas a player like Keagan Dolly is the same age but is struggling to find his best level, Lorch could keep delivering deep into his 30s. It's nothing short of absurd for a player of his pure talent to only have nine Bafana Bafana caps and just one outing since 2019, the 2-1 away loss to Morocco in an AFCON qualifier in 2022.
Lorch needs to be challenging for honours, playing in the CAF Champions League and getting regular minutes for the national team. The Tshwane giants are famed for getting the best out of older players and his versatility means he can play in Themba Zwane's role or alongside a Shalulile or Gaston Sirino in attack.
Mokwena is a good coach to keep "Nyoso" focused and set the bar high for his performances. After a brace against Maritzburg United, the coach said: "Lorch, am I happy? No. But I'm quietly content and he knows that I want more."
The player admitted: "The coach was hard on me during the week for me not scoring the goals, I'm getting the balls but I'm not shooting enough and he was hard on me."
This looks like it could be a marriage made in heaven for all three parties: the player, his club and the coach. The only losers in this situation are Orlando Pirates, sadly.
