Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi made a bold statement on one of the club's peripheral midfielders, haling him as one of the best players to be produced in the country…
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After receiving that high praise from a coach who is hard to please, Mkhulise must be wondering why the talent Mngqithi speaks of does not result in him making more appearances in the Sundowns starting XI.
He has made just four appearances in all competitions.
However, Mngqithi has revealed what 'Pitso's' shortcomings are in his game and what he needs to do with his potential to become as influential for the Brazilians as someone like Themba Zwane.
"I think its always nice and refreshing to hear a boy talking the way he talks. Its talks that I have with him and the other coaches they told him, and I want to reaffirm in front of all of you that he is one of the most talented players that South Africa has produced and I'm not talking because he's here.
"He's one of the most talented players and the reason why we promoted him because we wanted something close to Themba Zwane, something that can really help us in the attacking third. His game has been lacking either assisting the assist or assisting, or scoring," Mngqithi told journalists at the club's press conference.
"That is what we've been working very hard on and what we trying very hard to improve because less than 50% of you know that he's such a good dribbler! Very few people know that because he's an introvert and he plays a game that is not as arrogant as we would like it to be because a little bit of arrogance for attacking players makes them tick and makes them always be in positions to determine the game.
"In terms of consolidating and establishing our play, he's one player that we know when we are not playing very well, we always go back to him and say, 'make the team play' but it's not enough because when we make the line-up, we are looking at all his matches. Expected goals, assists, runs into the box and all these metrics, if they are not coming right for an offensive player, it ends up creating problems for the player – but fortunately he is a boy that I can speak with, and we are all seeing the improvements that we are looking for," he concluded.
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Mkhulise is once again expected to form part of the club's starting XI when they take on La Passe this, a side they defeated 7-0 in the first leg of their CAF Champions League encounter this Friday.
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