Mamelodi Sundowns playmaker Sphelele Mkhulise is one of the most naturally talented players in the country but needs to improve his output to become a regular, according to coach Manqoba Mngqithi.
Mkhulise, 26, has often been hailed for his technical ability and composure on the ball. He’s able to dictate the tempo of the game and protect the ball in a manner not many South African players are able to do.
However, he’s not been able to command a regular starting berth in the star-studded Sundowns squad, under Mngqithi and fellow co-coach Rulani Mokwena, much to the dismay from sections of the club’s supporters.
The academy product scored his first goal of the season in the 7-0 win over La Passe on Sunday and stated he was ‘happy to score’ but thinks he needs to work harder in order to be able to become one of the first names on the team sheet as his talents suggests could be possible at Sundowns.
I think I have to listen to the coaches, I have to work hard, I have to run, I have to score goals, I have to assist, I have to work hard – that’s what they tell us, working hard and being focuses because whenever you get a chance, you must be ready,” he said at Chloorkop on Wednesday afternoon when asked by iDiski Times what he needs to do to become a regular.
Mngqithi who looked on in admiration of his honesty about his current predicament went on the heap praise on his ability but broke down exactly why it’s been hard to name him in the team ahead of their more experienced campaigners of late.
“I think it’s always nice and refreshing when I hear a boy talking the way he talks because it’s talks that I have with him and the other coaches [also] talk, and I want to reaffirm in front of all of you that, he’s one of the most talented players that South Africa has produced,” he said shortly after Mkhulise expressed his intention to work harder to impress the technical team.
“I’m not [saying this] because he is here. He [Mkhulise] is one of the most talented players, the reason why we promoted him is that we wanted something close to Themba Zwane, something that can really help us in the attacking third.
“And his game has been lacking, either the assisting the assist, assisting or scoring. That is what we’ve been working very hard on and that is what we are trying very hard to improve because, probably, out of all of you, 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. A little bit of arrogance for offensive players makes them tick and makes them always be in positions that would determine the result of the game.”
The former Golden Arrows boss went on to state that he’s one of the first players they look towards when the team is struggling creatively or needs more control of the game. but on his current numbers, he doesn’t justify benching players who are performing at a higher level, which statistics supplied by their team of analyts suggests.
“In terms of establishing play, consolidating play, he is one player we know, if we not playing very well, we’ve always gone back to him and say; make the team play. But it’s not enough because when we make the line-up, we look at all these metrics, expected goals, expected assists, and expected runs into the box,” he explained.
“All these metrics, if they aren’t coming right for an offensive player, it ends up creating problems for the player. Fortunately, he’s one I speak often with and I can guarantee you I can see the improvement we’re all looking for from him.
“Not only in this game [against La Passe] but in our training sessions, he’s beginning to realise that to be part of the team, sometimes in many teams, they will have a very bad centre-back but because he scores every match – knowing he doesn’t defend well.”
“So sometimes it’s important to put your name on the teamsheet with assists, goals, with runs into the box, assisting the assist – when you are always part of the final product you always stand a chance of always winning the hearts of coaches.
“We also don’t want to lose our jobs, we want to score, we want goals, we want to win you know.”
