Top scorer award toss up between Mhango, Nurkovic
Two goals ahead in the race for the Absa Premiership golden boot award with just six matches to go, surely Gabadinho Mhango must be the favourite to bag the award named after a player who once donned the same black and white jersey the Malawian now plays in.
Not necessarily, says a man who knows all about the art of finding the opposition net, having won the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot Award himself, named after the late Orlando Pirates goal poacher.
Daniel “Mambush” Mudau believes that should the current campaign be played to finish, this season’s top scorer award will be won by Samir Nurkovic of Kaizer Chiefs and not the Pirates striker currently in the lead with 14 goals.
A multiple championship winner with Mamelodi Sundowns and a prolific scorer who is the Brazilians’ all-time top scorer, Mudau believes Nurkovic is a more complete striker than the rest of the players in contention.
“Nurkovic is an out and out striker and a better goalscorer than all the others. He will win the golden boot,” Mudau said of the Amakhosi marksman who has scored 11 times in the league – three goals less than Mhango and one behind the trio of Peter Shalulile of
Highlands Park, Amazulu’s Bongi Ntuli and Supersport United striker Bradley Grobler. “That guy reminds me of myself a bit. And there is also elements of Benni Mccarthy, as well as Chippa Masinga and Shaun Bartlett in him. He is the complete package. Chiefs have signed a quality striker there. Remember how Raphael Chukwu came here as an unknown but made an immediate impact with his goals? Nurkovic has done just that.”
Mudau has been impressed by “the way he finishes and how he positions himself”, and belives that Nurkovic is “not scared to challenge goalkeepers for aerial balls or go into 50/50 tackles to challenge defenders”.
“He does not tire to chase, like I used to. He is a fighter. And like Benni, he has a brilliant first touch to set himself up for a good finish and he is brilliant with first-time volleys. “Like Chippa and Shaun, he is great in the air unlike Mhango, who is scared to challenge goalkeepers for high balls. And Mhango has a tendency to miss easy chances.”
Another advantage Mudau believes Nurkovic has is the fact that he is hardly expected to help in defensive situations.
“That is how I used to play. I had teammates who were prepared to get the ball for me and supply it for me to score. Nurkovic enjoys that at Chiefs and that makes it easy for him. And the fact that Chiefs are at the top and going for the title will inspire him to play even better and want to contribute in the championship success. That is a big motivation and, for a good striker like him, that is sure to bring more goals.”
Mudau believes Ntuli is a good striker who has done well but carries too much weight on his young shoulders.
“He is the surprise of the season and I am sure even he is surprised by how well he has done. He is a fighter and I love how he bullies the defenders. But the pressure he carries is too much and, with the club needing to try to survive, that pressure will be even more in the last few matches and could be too much for him,” explains Mudau.
That the strikers are struggling to get to the 20-goal mark, he says, has to do with the fact that the game has evolved.
Tanguy Ndombele is said to be considering his future at Tottenham Hotspur amid interest from Barcelona.
A source close to the French midfielder said although he has no problems with Spurs nor manager Jose Mourinho, Ndombele is unsettled after a difficult start in the Premier League.
The player is said to have been very disappointed at the way he was publicly singled out for criticism for his performance against Burnley, in which he was hauled off at half-time and then warned by Mourinho he was running out of opportunities to impress.
Mourinho and Spurs remain determined to get the best out of the club’s £54-million (R1.2-bil- lion) record-signing from Lyon, but the player’s ongoing wavering appears to have alerted Barcelona, who are hoping to add a battling midfielder to their squad in the next transfer window.
Last week, it was reported that the Catalan club had offered Spurs the chance to sign defenders Samuel Umtiti and Nelson Semedo, via intermediaries, as they look to secure a swap or part-exchange deal for Ndombele.
It was also reported that Spurs have no intention of selling him this summer, and Ndombele appeared to play things down by commenting
“nothing to report” on a social media post of his Tottenham highlights over the weekend.
But there appears to be work to do to settle the player after a tumultuous first campaign in England.
The 23-year-old is currently living alone in London during the coronavirus lockdown, and he was recently taken out to a local park for personalised training with Mourinho, in what appeared to be a show of commitment to improving the player’s fitness and confidence from the head coach. Meanwhile, Mourinho arrived at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium masked and carrying vegetables. It’s a picture of the “new normal”.
In football’s absence, he is volunteering to help harvest fresh produce from the club’s training ground.
He delivers it to the stadium, where it is distributed to those in the local community identified as most in need during the current Covid-19 pandemic.
“I miss football,” the Spurs head coach told Sky Sports News, now seven weeks since he last took charge of a match.
“But I prefer to say I miss our world, like I think we all do. Football is just part of my world.
“But we have to be patient, this is a fight that we all have to fight.” –