With Orlando Pirates striker Zakhele Lepasa enjoying the best start to the 2023/24 season, a plea has been made to those around him about the upcoming matches.
Following his return from a loan spell with SuperSport United for the second half of last season, Lepasa has been given a chance under coach Jose Riveiro and he has so far repaid the faith showed in him by scoring goals for the Buccaneers.
Against Cape Town City in Bucs' 2-0 victory on Tuesday evening, Lepasa netted his third goal in the DStv Premiership so far this season and is currently on nine strikes across all competitions.
With the team preparing for Stellenbosch FC in their next match in the MTN8 on Sunday, former Pirates midfielder Nkosinathi Mqobongo has called for more support for Lepasa to score more goals.
The Good
"He is a very good player and I like him. I like strikers that are always in the box. I like people who are always trying and he is that kind of a player. He needs all the necessary support so that if he can't score he can have someone whom he can pass the ball to for goals to be scored because if one day he doesn't score, who's going to score? Sometimes we need to think about those scenarios because we do have the players to do it but you need to have your (Deon) Hotto next to you, you need to have your (Ndabayithethwa) Ndlondlo next to you and those kinds of players to pass the ball to you," he said.
The Bad
"With some of the goals that he has been scoring, he had to fight for them. When he started scoring, he was being supplied with some nice passes and so on and the team needs to continue doing what they were doing initially. He needs the support of everyone around him to give him the balls inside the box. When Pirates loaned him out, I complained and asked myself questions as to how they allowed him to go to SuperSport United and left the other player (Terrence Dzvukamanja) who they have since transferred to the same club but I don't want to mention names. The player I complained about was seen as scoring for Pirates but he is hardly scoring now at SuperSport," Mqobongo added.
The Ugly
"I always say that when it comes to importing players, we need the best of the best. Do you think it can be that difficult to get a player from Qumbu in the Eastern Cape or somewhere in Limpopo who can be trained to be able to play for a big club like Pirates? I think that should be the focus instead of going for a player from somewhere in Africa who will come here and struggle to score goals. I mean, you still have Bienvenu Eva Nga at Pirates and he isn't scoring the goals. He is not even playing regularly and in my opinion you can have a talented young and local boy in his space so that when Lepasa and the other players are not on form you can give that boy a chance to play even if for a few minutes here and there. But you are keeping the big player and paying him a lot of money while he is not playing," he noted.
"We don't have them like that anymore"
"Back in the day, we used to have players like (Edelbert) Dinha, Innocent Chikoya, Williams Okpara, Tico Tico Bucuane, Collins Mbesuma and so on and they contributed immensely to our football. Kennedy Mweene at Sundowns and fellow goalkeeper Denis Onyango, those are the kinds of players I am talking about. We don't have them like that anymore," concluded Mqobongo.
Can Lepasa finish as the PSL's top goal scorer this season?
