WHY TAU, PITSO SOMETIMES FIGHT

WHEN Percy Tau was asked what makes him so confident to take opponents head-on the way he did on Sunday, the Mamelodi Sundowns attacker turned to coach Pitso Mosimane with a huge smile on his face.

There’s a father-son relationship between Mosimane and Tau, and the coach admits there are days when they fight, particularly when Tau wants to hold on to the ball too much.

On Sunday in the MTN8 against Tshwane rivals SuperSport United, Tau was guilty of holding on to the ball too much at times, but it was to great effect as he dribbled past seasoned players such as Dean Furman and Morgan Gould to create openings in the Matsatsantsa defence.

The 22-year-old, who was on loan to Witbank Spurs in the National First Division last season, was awarded with the Man of the Match award after coming on as a substitute in the first half for the injured Leonardo Castro.

Tau played a big role in Sundowns’ 3-1 victory and he’s certain to play more matches this season.

He is also proving himself in the CAF Champions League, with good performances against Zamalek and Enyimba recently. “I have a lot of talks with the coach. He is the one behind all of it. He wants to understand a lot of things about me as a person and my goals,” said Tau on Sunday.

“We are building a strong bond because he is starting to understand more of what I am trying to do and I am starting to understand the tactics and how to be in the structure of the team. I understand better than the Percy that left [to join Spurs]. I just want to contribute to the team.”

After Tau left the press conference to go and join his teammates in the changing room, Mosimane explained that he has told the player that it’s time to deliver.

“We fight a lot, like father and son. We have a lot of meetings with Percy. He sometimes enjoys the football too much and do all these tricks. I am trying to make him aware that he must play industrious football.”