Royal AM defender Thabo Matlaba has revealed Andile Mpisane’s unique qualities, revealing what makes his chairman and teammate tick on the pitch.
Mpisane was trending most recently after he was handed his first start in Royal AM’s 3-0 defeat at the hands of AmaZulu FC in the DStv Premiership. He was subbed off at the beginning of the second half.
After the match, the 22-year-old faced a lot of backlash for his performance. Cape Town Spurs coach Ernst Middendorp went as far as labelling Mpisane’s appearance as comedy. However, Thwihli Thwahla coach John Maduka backed his decision, insisting that the attacking midfielder deserved to play.
In addition, Matlaba has praised Mpisane, saying the midfielder has quality, passing ability and a high work rate.
“To be honest, he’s very good. He can play long passes, he can play short passes,” Matlaba told FARPost.
THABO MATLABA EXPLAINS ANDILE MPISANE’S QUALITIES
“We understand him; he understands why the coach put him in the number 10 position [attacking midifelder] as he had to deal with Ben Motshwari, and he dealt with Ben Motshwari very well [in the AmaZulu game].
“If you can check the first half, [AmaZulu star] Ben Motshwari didn’t get much involved in the game. People who were very much involved in the game were Hendrick Ekstein and Celimpilo Ngema.
“They were more involved, but Ben Motshwari had to deal with Andile [Mpisane], and Mpisane dealt with him nicely. We didn’t have a problem.”
THABO MATLABA SHIFTS THE BLAME FROM ANDILE MPISANE
Matlaba further shifted the blame from Mpisane alone after the disappointing loss to AmaZulu in the KZN Derby.
“I’m not going to look individually, we must look at ourselves on what we need to do to help with this situation. We lose as a team, we win as a team, we draw as a team.
“When you lose games and start pointing fingers, you’re unprofessional. We can play one man down, we can play two man down, for example, but still, you have to do your job,” he added.
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