The issue of goal scoring continues to be a big talking point in the DStv Premiership after this season's top goal scorers finished with less than 20 goals.
Cape Town City's Khanyisa Mayo and Peter Shalulile of Mamelodi Sundowns finished the 2022/23 campaign as joint top goal scorers with 12 strikes apiece.
Veteran striker Bradley Grobler from SuperSport United admitted that 12 goals for the top scorer is not good enough and he is hoping that with competition among strikers in the league, then the numbers could improve in future.
Retired former forward Tyren Arendse, who turned out for Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates in his prime, blames the deteriorating numbers to a lack of proper development.
The Good
"Funny enough, I had a conversation with a friend of mine the other day and I mentioned that when Bafana Bafana were doing well when they were playing in World Cups and the Africa Cup of Nations, we had the strikers that were scoring goals. Even during the early 2000s, you had Philemon Masinga and all of them and they used to score goals for Bafana and at club level. I mean, we used to have the likes of Collins Mbesuma, and even before that with the likes of Fani Madida who used to score between 15 and 20 goals. But you don't have that anymore. Even if you look at a team like Sundowns with Shalulile scoring most of the goals for them, but I think he should actually score more because of the chances they create. It would be nice to have strikers scoring goals regularly," said Arendse.
The Bad
Diminishing Numbers Of Goals From Strikers In Topflight
"There can be a lot of factors for that but ultimately it comes to proper development. If you talk development, I remember during the 90s and maybe up to the early 2000s, schools football used to be very competitive. If your schools football is competitive with some of the kids also playing for their local clubs, it means there will be more development for players. That's why in the late 90s and early 2000s Bafana were doing well," he said.
The Ugly
"If you look post 2010, I would say the structure of schools football is non-existent. Even until today, it is still non-existent although I know they have been trying to revive it. With that said, it means that the bulk of development is already lost from the last 15 years or so. It is only at club level that they play now. And what quality coaches do they get at club level? Sometimes, you don't know. Now sometimes you find a boy getting into a PSL team when he is already 20 or 21 and you ask him to be a top goal scorer. Did he really play enough in the past 10 years of his development? As much as there can be striker or goal scoring coaching, but these boys need to have been playing games from a young age and say from six or seven years and twice a week for both their schools and their clubs respectively. That would help them so that by the time they are 16, 17 or 18, they would be breaking into the first team. There should be so many games and opportunities to develop them. That's the way I look at it, there's been no proper development. The rotation of coaches also contributes to the problem," the former Santos man added.
It's Not Only The Striker's Problem
"Mark Williams will tell you, if you can't take the heat in the kitchen, then you need to get out of it. The only time you can take the heat is being used to being in the kitchen and that means you need to play games competitively. That may take on the situation and it's not only the striker's problem but our game in general. Only the really talented ones will make it in the game in our days," concluded Arendse.
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