When is it too much, coach?

One thing you’ve got to give to Bafana Bafana head coach, Hugo Broos, is that he is one coach with an unbelievable and consistent ability to always evoke emotion, whether you agree with him or not. The Belgian is so blunt in his responses to questions and sometimes gives quotable quotes ‘unprovoked’. This is a man who will leave you wondering when is his honesty too much?’

Almost every time the Belgian mentor addresses the football fraternity, he leaves us gobsmacked by his utterances. He’s the kind of a person who never sugar-coats anything, he ruffles feathers and moves on with his life, without any fear or concern. He will tell it as he sees it, how you receive or react to his message is entirely up to you. He’s not someone who is going to decorate and dress the issue up, he calls a spade exactly that, not a gardening tool. For a country like South Africa and her children, we sometimes find the coach’s remarks cringeworthy! That’s simply because, unlike other people, we tend to look beyond the topic of discussion or the message being delivered when someone speaks to us, for various reasons. Catch my drift?

Since coach Hugo took over the Bafana reigns three years ago, he’s made a lot of ‘enemies’ but he’s, equally, also made a lot of ‘friends’ along the way. Notwithstanding his sometimes controversial observations, his record speaks for itself since assuming the Nasrec-based office. He’s done a lot and promises to offer even more to South African football, if how he’s been handling Bafana so far is anything to go by.

Forget every uncomfortable statement he’s made and look at his track record, impact and how his team fared at the recent Ivory Coast Afcon, you’ll agree that the man is on a mission. You will give it to him that he’s one of the coaches that seem to know where they are taking our national team. With more support, better things are easily predicted to be on the horizon for our football, under his tutelage. Even Stevie Wonder can see that!

Interestingly, the 71-year-old mentor continued with his famous ‘jabs’ when he announced his Bafana Bafana squad for the upcoming FIFA Series international friendlies against Andorra and Algeria, last week. He openly discussed his reasons for having snubbed Cape Town City striker, Khanyisa Mayo, who was left out of the team for the Afcon campaign. Looking at how relatively ineffective our front line was at Afcon, the coach’s decision to leave out Mayo and Iqraam Rayners became a contentious issue among the passionate football fanatics. The general feeling was that, had coach Broos called up the two of the on-form strikers at the time, Bafana would have progressed beyond the third place they finished, as they won the bronze medal. Recalling the 25-year-old for this Series raised eyebrows but the coach was bold enough to explain his change of mind and revealed why he was left out of the team, in part, by saying: “I find that Mayo is sometimes out of the game. You are looking for him but you don’t see him but he is there with no action. You cannot be like that as a striker, certainly at the level that we play. Maybe it is a mental problem for him to want to have that mentality that says ‘I want to show (that I can deliver).’ He is a nice guy and I like him and he was with us before because there is a potential but he needs to take another step and if he doesn’t, he will always be someone who scores goals and will never reach an international level that he wants. (What he does) is not enough. You can wait for the ball until you score but that is not what we want. You can do that with (Lionel) Messi but not with Mayo, I am very sorry.”

Agree or disagree with the former Club Brugge defender but he didn’t stutter in his response. However, when is it too much for the coach to go into detail about his choices? Yes, granted, the coach ‘owes’ the country an explanation when questions are asked based on his selection and he’s expected to be honest in his response. The same would be expected at club level when people ask questions about players who are not getting game-time. Having said that, was it really fair for the coach to go that far in his response? That Mayo is not Messi and selecting him is like playing with 10 men sounds like a punch below the belt from the experienced mentor. Shouldn’t such discussions be held behind closed doors between the coach and the player, or even his club coach, rather than ‘airing the dirty laundry in public’? Much as one appreciates the coach’s honesty, there is an urge to feel he gave too much information to the public. What message are you sending to the player or is this the route you are going to take with every question asked about players? This takes us back to what happened with Themba Zwane after the coach took charge of our national team. When everyone lambasted Zwane’s constant omission from the national team, despite his excellent form at Mamelodi Sundowns, the coach boldly dismissed the noise as he focussed on younger players. Look what has since happened! The coach eventually had no choice but to stop ignoring Mshishi’s consistent top-drawer performances and called him up. The rest is history as the Tembisa-born is now one of the key players in the national team. To his credit, the coach rightfully mentioned that only a fool doesn’t change his mind, as he explained his reasons for going back on his word when it came to the Sundowns playmaker. Imagine what would’ve happened, had Zwane ‘blue-ticked’ the coach and decided to focus on his club football, in retaliation to his initial remarks and being overlooked?

Once again, the coach’s honesty is a breath of fresh air but where do you draw the line? At the end of the day, you need the player to do the job for you on the field and that takes good relations. One thinks it would have been enough for the coach to simply say he was giving Mayo another chance to prove himself in the national team because he’s been doing well at club level. Then, have a private tactical conversation with the striker where he goes into detail about what he needs and expects from him. This is a conversation that should even extend to Mayo’s club coach, Eric Tinkler, who spends most of the time with the striker. That way, between the three of them, they can find a way to elevating Mayo from being a good striker to a great striker. This could be done as part of the national team coach’s visits to the different football clubs, which is the best way to foster relationships between him, the players and PSL coaches.

To an ordinary football supporter, the coach hung Mayo out to dry rather than trying to empower him, while others will start looking at the player’s game differently, to see what he makes of the coach’s ‘advice’. Honesty is a great policy but how far can one go? Where do you draw the line and when is it too much, coach? As mentioned, it is priceless for any football supporter to be taken into confidence whether by the coach or club management but when is it too much? Shouldn’t we sensitize the information we give out about the players, so that we protect them no matter how critical we can be? Or are we ever going to get to a stage where we openly discuss issues without being emotional about it?