Tovey blames PSL teams for Bafana’s lack of goals

Former Bafana Bafana captain Neil Tovey has blamed Absa premiership sides for the national team’s continuing failure to find the back of the net.

The SA Football Association’s technical director has blamed the poor attacking tactical approach of many teams in the PSL for Bafana Bafana’s bluntness in front of goal.

Tovey was weighing in on the continuing debate after coach Stuart Baxter’s charges were held to a potentially costly goalless draw against Libya in an African Nations Cup qualifier at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban at the weekend.

“Bafana’s draw against Libya is the microcosm of our game at the moment‚” Tovey said as he attempted to defend Baxter after the poor result.

“It’s not about Baxter to just click his fingers and suddenly come up with a recipe for a striker to score goals.

“The situation is a microcosm of our players who are playing in the PSL at the moment, unfortunately.”

Tovey made it clear that he was not impressed with many premiership clubs‚ saying that most of them were hesitant to put numbers inside the box when they attack.

“I want to ask you‚ when you do your own analysis of the next PSL game‚ look at how many teams are adding more than two players to the box when the ball is put into the box‚” he said. “I guarantee you that you won’t come up with more than two players.

“When you look at the top teams in the world they put more than four or five players into the box and two or three outside the box.

“It’s funny then how the ball starts dropping into those players and they start scoring goals.

“That’s the major problem [with our football].

“Watch the next PSL match and tell me how many players [Orlando] Pirates are putting into the box‚ how many [Kaizer] Chiefs and [Mamelodi] Sundowns are putting into the box, or any of the teams.

“I guarantee you‚ you will really have a rude awakening.”

Asked what he was doing as Safa’s technical director to remedy the situation‚ Tovey said: “We are there in the development programmes, trying to put systems in place.

“We are working on that. “But I don’t coach the [PSL] teams.

“We can only do what we can in putting the programmes in place for coaches to have a look and it has been done with our coaching schedules.

“But it’s up to the mentality of the player to say ‘I want to get into the box‚ I want to get beyond the defence’.

“If you get told to do that and you don’t do it as a player, then it’s a big problem.”