AmaZulu FC coach Benni McCarthy says the reason for rotating his defensive pair is to give youngsters a chance in order to plan for the future.
At the moment, AmaZulu seem to be the ‘king of draws’ having drawn their last six games and despite defending very well their problems seem to be in scoring goals upfront.
In an interview with media ahead of today’s league encounter against Chippa United, McCarthy went into a bit more detail around his rotation policy.
“I think Thapelo Xoki is a player that is consistent and very difficult to rotate, he is very consistent and very hardly have bad training sessions or games so how would you not use that player?,” McCarthy told media in Durban.
“The door is widely open for other players, Mbongeni Gumede has been exceptional well too, every game he has been slotted to left back and even central back, even against TP Mazembe he came in a left-back, him and Xoki have good partnership,” said McCarthy.
Usuthu are fortunate to have talented youngsters at the club with Samkelo Mgwazela and Sandile Khumalo seeing a lot of action now which bodes well for the future.
“Fantastic but I have to think ahead of the future, we have Mgwazela and Sandile Khumalo that are 20/21 years old, I have to groom these guys,” McCarthy added.
“As much as we have this experience, the bottom line is that next season is more important than this one because they will be key figures of the team and they can become top central pair in the country, so that might thinking about rotating at the back to groom these players.
“Xoki is a senior player so I use him to pair with either Mgwazela or Khumalo to help them get used to the pressure and also protect them. It all about grooming them for the future and take over in the coming season.”