Katlego Mashego puzzled by Themba Zwane lack of minutes

The Bafana Bafana talisman has now twice come off the bench in the two MTN8 matches since the start of the 2024/25 season under coach Manqoba Mngqithi, suggesting his minutes are being managed.

Speaking on Sports Night Amplified with host Andile Ncube, Mashego believes such an approach is going to take some getting used to.

"I think a lot of teams would have watched Sundowns [against Stellenbosch] and thought to themselves, 'But we can compete against this team,'" said 'Mahoota'.

"It was not the fluent and robust Sundowns, or the Sundowns team that created a lot of chances with a dangerous Peter Shalulile and Ribeiro [Costa] on the other side.

"And the fact that they're now going to try and manage 'Mshishi' [Zwane] and play him less, but when he plays, he dances – Pitso always said that, 'Mshishi dances.'

"But if they say they're going to manage him, I don't know, I'm not a coach, like I said, I don't believe in these things. If Mshishi is fit and sitting on the bench, he needs to start.

"Unless he's injured or he says he's tired, or something, but when Mshishi plays, Sundowns look different."

With Mngqithi having made it clear he will make a few changes to how Sundowns play this season, Mashego believes this will not earn him more time to experiment from the club’s hierarchy. 

"Sundowns is a big team – the supporters are expecting the team to win every game, hence I said – and I'm not saying they're complacent but – now they look like they're going into games expecting or knowing they're going to win," he added.

"[Wednesday] was a perfect example of that because Stellenbosch were just going toe-to-toe with Sundowns – whatever they did, Stellies were with them.

"So, I don't know if we should give Coach Manqoba grace for him to have a couple of games under his belt and then start saying, now we need to see results – I don't think Sundowns is a team like that.

"And I think the people in charge of Sundowns expect them to win regardless of how long the coach has been there."

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