Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has addressed prospects of Andile Jali's game-time following the return of Bongani Zungu.
Jali has been a linchpin for Sundowns in midfield and was instrumental in the club winning a treble of trophies last season, as he won the DStv Premiership midfielder of the season, MTN8 Last Man Standing and Nedbank Cup Player of the Tournament accolades.
However, there were question marks on the industrious midfielder's performance, in arguably Sundowns' biggest test so far this season against Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 semi-final first leg.
Although Jali did not have a completely bad game, he had moments where he was found wanting and was replaced early in the second stanza, with Zungu taking his place.
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Mngqithi has responded to questions on whether Jali and Zungu can play together and although he explained why it's possible, he hinted that it's unlikely to happen often.
"Yes, they can play together. Bongani. when we got him first from Tuks, he was playing as a ten and as an eight, you remember he was playing with Mame Niang at Tuks," Mngqithi told reporters in a post-match press conference.
"As an eight, he did very well for us, even before. I think he still has a lot to offer in a more advanced position because he's got a goal. He's got a shot, he's got a header, he's strong on set-pieces and he's a good a very good pass that is well weight. I still believe they can play together but it won't be very easy to see."
Mngqithi also revealed that another midfielder in that position, Rivaldo Coetzee looks good in training after a long injury lay-off and praised Zungu for giving them precision in the vertical passes and increasing the speed of their game.
"He (Zungu) has improved tremendously in terms of his fitness, considering where he's coming from, we had a (friendly) game against Township Rollers immediately after our game against AmaZulu," Mngqithi went on to explain.
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"And he had a very good performance together with Rivaldo Coetzee, they had some top performance, which is why we considered a possibility of him helping us in this match.
"There was a lot of verticality in his (Zungu) passing game, that was very important for us. How many times did he find (Aubrey) Modiba, how many times he found 'Tebza' (Teboho Mokoena) in the half space, how many times did he find (Khuliso) Mudau?
"Those [moments] to us were very important and at times he would find (Marcelo) Allende and 'Mshishi' (Themba Zwane) in a very critical positions and that is what we wanted," he carried on.
"More than anything else we wanted to increase the speed of the passing game, the interval between passing and receiving first half was very slow and that was a little bit irritating for us," he added.
