Royal AM head coach John Maduka has highlighted both the strengths and weaknesses of the club’s chairman-cum-player, Andile Mpisane, who has been a regular starter recently.
Mpisane started his fourth game of the season on Saturday as Thwihli Thwahla were downed 3-0 by Cape Town City FC in the Carling Knockout Cup Round of 16 at the Athlone Stadium.
Mpisane has not played a full 90 minutes in any of the five appearances he has made across all competitions this campaign.
Speaking after a defeat at the hands of the Citizens, Maduka explained that they typically sub the 23-year-old midfielder out in the second half when he shows signs of fatigue.
The Malawian coach highlighted Mpisane’s ability to effectively play both long and short passes, contributing immensely to the team’s forward play while maintaining possession.
However, he acknowledged that the chairman falls short in terms of defensive contributions.
JOHN MADUKA – THE PROS AND CONS OF HAVING ANDILE MPISANE ON THE FIELD
“We try to give him some more minutes to play; if you see that maybe he’s getting tired, that’s when you have to take him out,” said Maduka.
“He’s one player that can be able to pass the ball. I think if you take a look, yes, he might not touch the ball so many times, but the time that he made passes, you didn’t see him losing many of the balls.
“Maybe not too good when it comes to defending but you find that he’s not a player that just loses the ball anyhow.
“He can play short passes, he can be able also to play long passes which does help the team somewhere somehow, trying to release the full-backs going forward.
“So, it’s not only about him, it’s about the whole team. It has click as a team, we must make sure that we play as a team.”
Maduka believes that Royal AM failed to play as a cohesive unit against Cape Town City and lacked creativity offensively.
‘WE WERE NOT DANGEROUS’
“If one player has the ball, we must be able to support him, but I think today, especially going forward, we had so many problems,” he continued.
“We were not dangerous enough, not creative enough to be able to give the opponents the problem. But second half I think it was much much better.
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