Mngqithi – It’s Like It’s A New Acquisition

Mamelodi Sundowns co-head Manqoba Mngqithi has hailed the performance of man of the match Gaston Sirino, as well as a players like Lebo Maboe, after their 5-0 win over Summerfield Dynamos in the Nedbank Cup quarter-finals.

Sirino opened the scoring for Masandawana at Loftus Stadium on Saturday, before adding a hattrick of assists in the win over Clinton Larsen’s ABC Motsepe team.

Mngqithi said he and the technical team were delighted in Sirino’s impact, as well as that of Maboe, and he felt like their good performances made it feel like the club had new signings.

“Personally, as a coach, if there is one paranoia that I have, I don’t like to play these matches that everybody thinks I’m going to win,” mngqithi said at the post-match press conference.

“Those matches for me at the matches that always demand that I dig deeper from a training perspective, a motivational perspective and understanding the value and the personality of our team to make sure that, all at any given stage if it’s not about the character of the match in terms of the opposition, it should be about making sure that you show us that you deserve to play a big match, by making sure that when you are given an opportunity in these so-called small matches, you show that you are a bigger player than the smaller matches.

“And all the players, we put a lot of pressure on them because these performances for us are not only just against Summerfield, but it’s performances that must say to us, who do we have in the game against Golden Arrows, which is another very important match. Who do we have in the game against Petro in Angola, because it’s another very important match for us.

“So there is no game that we take for granted. And I think this culture is really paying off for us because including friendly matches, even a friendly match, we want to win, we don’t want to be ‘Lazy Daisy’.

“And at this stage, a player like Gaston is a new acquisition for us. We are excited even as the technical team because when we look at Gaston, we are saying this is one additional member into the squad because he has not played and he’s fresh, he can still give us a little bit more freshness in the game and help us going forward.

“And when he performs like this, we get excited. The same thing with Lebo, we’ve gained another player because he has not been around for the longest of time. And when he is given an opportunity and he performs the way he performs, we get excited because for us it’s like it’s a new acquisition.

“The same with George (Maluleka) applies. When we see a player that has not been playing given an opportunity and really stamping his authority, then it says to us maybe we look like a team that has just signed three more players towards the end of the season and that is encouraging.”

Mngqithi said with the season drawing to an end, they need to manage the players well, especially some of the older team members.

“Because it may not show physically, but the players that have had far too many matches, they get an element of fatigue,” he continued.

“Themba Zwane is not young. Now when we get an opportunity to take him out, so that he is always playing every match fresh, it’s a benefit to us. When we’ve got Surprise (Ralani) playing every match when he’s fresh it’s a benefit to us, unlike when we have to play him week-in and week-out, and he’s burnt down and he starts to get injured.

“But the moment they play fresh, I’m sure you saw how Surprise played against Swallows, you saw how Mshishi played against Swallows, George also have a very good performance, Andile, and those players that I mentioned are not young players. They are players that if you’ve got a chance, because they are influential in your team, to allow them to only play when they are 100% fresh, it gives you a chance to win that match easily than playing them even when they are tired.

“Because once you lose them because of injuries, it creates more problems for you because they are players that, even in this match of Summerfield if the game was not taking the direction and the shape that we wanted, then you bring in Themba Zwane, he brings character, the character of the team, then you bring in a Peter Shalulile, it’s a completely different setup altogether.

“So Gaston is exciting all of us, because all we wanted is players to run, players to work very hard and players to really represent the club, the way we want it to be represented and they are not disappointing in that space and we are very excited.”