Bacela faces former club Pirates searching for form

WHAT WAS meant to be a marquee signing by the University of Pretoria has turned to nothing more than a glorified tent, offering the club practically nothing in terms of protection from the elements as they struggle.

It doesn’t help that he is seen more in VIP marquees and music videos as a socialite and less in the top goal scorer’s charts. One goal in eight matches doesn’t inspire much confidence, especially from a striker with a CAF Champions League silver medal. But that’s what Lennox Bacela has given AmaTuks in return for their hefty financial investment in him that makes him one of the top earners at the club.

The club’s chief executive Dr Rendani Mulaudzi said on radio that the club is tired of reading about him more on the tabloids than they do on the back pages. Sammy Troughton has a valid reason on why Bacela has struggled to make an impact in the capital, unlike he did when he was with Orlando Pirates.

“Bacela is a smart striker, he likes to get involved in the build-up and is a good player of the ball,” Troughton said. “The problem is that as a club we have never had a striker like him. We have had the Mame Niangs and Geoffrey Massas of this world, conventional target men who use their strength and height to beat defenders. Bacela wants to use his feet but the way the ball has been played to him doesn’t match that. Once we get that right, he will start delivering.”

That would explain why Thabo Mnyamane went from a national team player last season to getting lost on the pitch with only two goals this season. In the last campaign he had a physical Massa to feed off while this season he has a Bacela who is similar to him just like Getaneh Kebede is. Bidvest Wits’ Daine Klate, with his six goals, has as many goals as the entire AmaTuks team who have the worst strike -rate in the country. Troughton will be hoping that they change that tonight when they take on Bacela’s former team, Pirates, at Orlando Stadium.

“I had an extensive chat with Bacela and Mnyamane when I conducted one-on-one sessions with the players before our first game of the year,” Troughton said. “I told them that they must come to the party. Their reaction was very positive because they even told me their personal targets which if they achieved, would help the team get out of this position that we’re in.”

Pirates are looking for the same thing, moving up from the 12th position they are in, with just five points separating them from bottom-placed Maritzburg United. Their problems aren’t just because of their poor showing upfront, that’s part of it as they recover from their grueling CAF Confederation Cup campaign. Bacela started that African sojourn with the club but left halfway when he joined AmaTuks in July. Pirates nonetheless presented him with a Confederation Cup silver medal as he was still registered with the Buccaneers. That gesture touched Bacela, making the club endear itself even more in the 32-year-old heart. That’s where sentiments will end as the forward needs to start giving the club value for their money.

“We have been asking for more consistency from him,” Troughton said.

“There is no doubt that he is a good player.”