Former Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates striker Collins Mbesuma has accused Premier Soccer League strikers of not going the extra mile to improve their game.
He was speaking to his fellow Amakhosi legend Josta Dladla on his Izinja zeGame podcast and he expressed his dissatisfaction with the modern-day attackers for not putting in the work adding that it is something that he noticed even during his playing days.
“What I have noticed is that the PSL strikers are not putting in a lot of work. I have seen it even during my playing days. You know, during my time at Pirates, I used to stay behind with 30 or 40 balls, Senzo Meyiwa was going to attest to this if he was still alive. I used to ask him to stay behind so we could do extra work.
“Every day after training I used to kick those balls even if there was no goalkeeper. So these days how many shots do they take after training? maybe one, maybe none after training,”
Ntofontofo, as he was affectionally known during his playing days made a mark in his first season in the PSL when he joined Kaizer Chiefs in 2004 scoring 35 goals across all competitions and was named PSL Player of the Season.
“Imagine the whole week in training a striker does not score a goal, but you expect him to score over the weekend during the game? Already, there is no confidence already in that person. So, they must stay behind and hit the ball daily to improve.”
The 40-year-old’s long-standing 25-league-goals record which was set in his debut season is yet to be broken. Peter Shalulile was three goals away from breaking the record in the 2021/22 season when he netted 23 league goals.
The 40-year-old’s long-standing 25-league-goals record which was set in his debut season is yet to be broken. Peter Shalulile was three goals away from breaking the record in the 2021/22 season when he netted 23 league goals.
Mbesuma was part of Amakhosi Legends’ squad that took on Bloemfontein Celtic Legends in the curtain-raiser match for Chiefs against Young Africans SC in the Toyota Cup on 28 July. The Soweto Giants were thrashed 4-0.
The Zambian striker said he was not happy with what he saw during the game adding that the team lacks balance between experienced players and youngsters. The senior players did not show any signs of leadership during the game.
“Yeah, I think they need to balance, you need to have experience and the young ones. Like I joined Kaizer Chiefs, I found Shoes Moshoeu, Tsikitsiki, Fabian McCarthy and Patrick Mabedi. That was the span of the team. When as a young boy [player] you want to go the other way, they bring you back before even the coach talks to you, Mbesuma concluded.
Written by Siphesihle Soni