The second leg will be interesting
Tshepang Mailwane: Heita, Terminator. In your opinion, who had the better game plan between Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns?
Dikgang Mabalane: More than anything, Sundowns came into the game as slight favourites. Any team that plays against Sundowns will always be underdogs, so to speak. But I’d say Pirates came better prepared, compared to previously (against Sundowns). I think this is a slightly different set-up at Pirates. They came with the three at the back, which is unorthodox for a team like Pirates. Traditionally, Pirates play with four at the back, but this season I see they
are playing with three at the back and maybe that’s the approach they want to start using. I knew Pirates were not going to sit back. That’s not the Pirates way. They were always going to attack, but against Sundowns, you can’t be vulnerable and attack as you please. They had to be careful of that and I could see that they wanted the three at the back to be solid, but their plan was also to make sure that the key players of Sundowns don’t play. They took (Andile) Jali out of the game and (Themba) Zwane was not the Zwane we know. The aim was to get behind Sundowns and, at times, turn their defence. Remember Sundowns are not normally tested by teams because they always have the ball. When they are tested, they struggle and the true colours of how they defend comes out. Pirates had the plan to use their speed. They did, but it was not enough. It was not an exciting game… I would not say it was boring. I think the second leg will be
interesting.
TM: What did you make of Monnapule Saleng on his first start for the Buccaneers?
DM: He seems to be a player who will bring creativity when the likes of (Thembinkosi) Lorch and (Vincent) Pule are not there, you know what I mean? Lorch is in and out of the team with injuries. But is he on Lorch’s level? Of course not. At the moment, he is not there, but you can see that he is a creative player and he can unsettle the opposition defence. He will have to keep making an impression. He has to carry on from where he left
off. He can’t be average.
TM: Let’s talk about the impact made by Kermit Erasmus when he came on as a second-half substitute…
DM:
Pirates struggled for a big part of the game to create chances, but one of the better chances they created was from someone who came off the bench. That’s what he brings. Erasmus is quality, there is no doubt about it.
He scores goals, but I think his work ethic is something that people talk about. He is known to be this player who
does not necessarily have a high work ethic. But he is always dangerous in and around the box. Will he give you 90 minutes? Not necessarily. But play him because
you are going to get a goal. For them to bring him back, Pirates want goals. They want someone who is going to score and that’s why they brought him. They’ve tried Kwame Peprah and Evan Nga and it did not work out the way they planned and that’s why they felt that they needed to get a player like Erasmus, who is totally different from them. He is not a big presence type of striker in the box, but he will get goals. They need that because Pirates have not been scoring.
TM: Speaking of scoring goals, what did you think of Zakhele Lepasa’s finishing on the day?
DM:
Lepasa is fit now. You can see that he is working hard, but he must not put pressure on himself to be Pirates’ saviour. I feel like sometimes he feels the need to be the saviour. Lepasa must understand that he does not need to save Pirates. That way, it will take pressure off him and the goals will come. He’s got the ability. I saw that he can get into good positions, but I think the pressure that he puts himself under lets him down. He can give Pirates something – he is strong, quick and age is still on his side. That’s the difference between him and Erasmus. Erasmus is a finisher and Lepasa is not there yet, but Erasmus does not have the work rate of Lepasa.
TM: Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo put in quite a shift on debut. Do you think having him in the line-up was a surprise for Sundowns?
DM:
I give credit to him for making an immediate impact. You know sometimes we judge players based on where they come from, but sometimes they are not your top-tier clubs. Other players excel, but when they go to a big club, they struggle a bit because now they are at a bigger stage. He came in and he did not show any sign of that and clearly he is a quality player. I think he played well. He knows his strengths and he plays according to those strengths. He is comfortable on the ball and he is able to take players on. It’s not easy to get the ball away from him, which is another one of his strengths. Pirates have not had a player like him in a long time.
TM: Peter Shalulile was well contained.
DM:
They closed him down. Shalulile plays almost every game and it becomes easy to analyse his play, but you also don’t want to leave him out. Sometimes it’s not about the individual, but it could be about the players around him. It’s where you maybe need to see how you can tweak it to make it work because you need to have Shalulile, you need to have Zwane and you need Jali.
TM: Who has the advantage going into the second leg?
DM:
It’s difficult to say. Both teams know what to expect from each other. The approach might be different from Pirates. They might not be too conservative. They might
want to go out and attack because they saw Sundowns’ vulnerability at the back. But Sundowns, on the other hand, would have seen that they have to find a way to make Zwane not easy to mark and not easy to stop him. Maybe they need to change the players around him. Maybe not start with (Neo) Maema, but rather start with (Gaston) Sirino or (Marcelo) Allende. Maybe they would see how those combinations work with Zwane, just to change things around so that they are not predictable. They don’t need to change a lot. They just need to tweak it. It’s difficult to say who has the advantage.