Mngqithi breaks silence on Mutizwa & Zuke exits

Golden Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi speaking with journalists

Golden Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi has broken his silence on the exits of striker Knox Mutizwa and defender Thabani Zuke, who were shown the exit door by the club.

FARPost first reported that the duo was dismissed by Abafana Besโ€™thende with immediate effect earlier this month.

Sources close to this website suggested that Zuke was released after the club reportedly believed he had signed a pre-contract agreement with their cross-city rivals, AmaZulu FC.

Regarding Mutizwa, insiders told the publication that his release was due to “below par performances” and other undisclosed reasons.

After Arrowsโ€™ 3-0 loss against Orlando Pirates in Wednesday’s Betway Premiership match at Orlando Stadium, Mngqithi was asked about the exits of the players.

He gave a limited response, stating that decisions are always made as a collective within the club.

โ€˜WE KEEP OUR DIRTY LINEN INSIDEโ€™ – MNGQITHI ON ZUKE & MUTIZWA

โ€œAs for those decisions [of letting Mutizwa and Zuke leave], we take them as a team. We always prefer to keep our dirty linen within the house,โ€ said Mngqithi.

Sacked Golden Arrows striker Knox Mutizwa in training
Knox Mutizwa – Picture courtesy of Golden Arrows

Meanwhile, discussing their defeat to the Buccaneers, Mngqithi stated that his team committed too many mistakes during the match, which allowed the home side to capitalise.

ARROWS GAFFER ON PIRATES LOSS

โ€œWe started the game quite well with a plan of not trying to press as high as we did last time [previous meeting on Tuesday] because we were aware [Sipho] Chaine is technically very sound and itโ€™s easy for him to find full-backs,โ€ Mngqithi added.

โ€œBut we conceded a soft goal. Iโ€™ve not checked properly what happened there. But from there, we then went back to our high press to try and give it a fight.

โ€œIt presented us with good situations, but unfortunately, on the day, we were not very sharp. I think on the day, we made far too many technical mistakes, and we were late with our press on the sides.

โ€œI think on the day Pirates deserved to win the match. They were stronger than us; they wanted it more. We were not at our best, and it was a different story from our previous match.โ€

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