Ertugral slowly showing his plan for Pirates
MUHSIN Ertugral sees Abbubaker Mobara as a crucial player in midfield‚ and Gladwin Shitolo as a potential answer to Bucs’ questions in defence as a centre back.
Slowly Ertugral is revealing the jigsaw puzzle pieces of how Pirates will look under him having replaced Eric Tinkler in the off-season.
More clues were revealed in Bucs’ 2-0 preseason Carling Black Label Cup defeat to Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium on Saturday‚ though Ertugral’s options at showing his true hand were limited by the format of a game that allows fans to vote in their starting lineups by SMS and on the internet.
Ertugral brought on Bucs’ new signing Shitolo‚ the former SA Under-23 international who played mostly in defensive midfield for Golden Arrows last season‚ at centreback in the second half for Ayanda Gcaba.
Ertugral said he had earmarked Mobara‚ signed from Ajax Cape Town‚ where the highly-rated utility player filled positions at right-back‚ centreback and in defensive midfield‚ for an anchor role in Bucs’ midfield.
“Mobara was unveiled at Ajax by me in the midfield. He had been long years – around 10 years – in their youth development‚” Ertugral said.
“That is a long time in South Africa — he doesn’t come from the primary school to the university.
“He is a properly educated player. Which sometimes makes it a waste to use him as a right-back.
“As a centreback I think he has his challenges [with height]‚ even though he makes up for it with very good anticipation.
“In midfield he can win balls a lot without getting into one on one situations. He’s very clever and anticipates very well. And I think it will be very vital for us to have someone like that in our midfield.
“Shitolo for me is a surprise package. I must say that I see Gladwin as a future Bafana player.
“He has amazing potential. He just needs to get a bit more confidence. He had a great season last season for Golden Arrows.
“I think he’s a very good centreback. Because the way Pirates play‚ playing from the back‚ you cannot have just defenders and the job is done.”
Mobara missed Saturday’s Black Label game as he is on duty with the SA men’s Olympic team in Brazil.
Both sides’ substitutes worked well for them‚ resulting in an end-to-end last 20 minutes.
Certainly two new strikers with big potential have been unleashed on SA football.
For Pirates‚ Bernard Morisson did not score‚ but the Ghanaian certainly showed more than just glimpses of his class.
“After the changes we looked pretty good. I liked the players who came in‚ and what they did for us‚” Ertugral said.