Former Orlando Pirates star defends Relebohile Mofokeng after poor showing in Mamelodi Sundowns defeat - 'You cannot expect him to carry a team'

Prior to the game between Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates, Relebohile Mofokeng played in the No. 10 role in matches against Magesi, AmaZulu, and Marumo Gallants.

The 21-year-old delivered three goals and two assists from the position owing to his intelligence on and off the ball.

However, against Sundowns, Mofokeng was pushed wide alongside Oswin Appollis to pave the way for Patrick Maswanganyi, who was played behind Yanela Mbuthuma.

The switch didn't work as coach Abdeslam Ouaddou had anticipated and resulted in Mofokeng having a poor game by his recent standards.

Former Pirates midfielder Aubrey Lekwane has now jumped to defend Mofokeng, insisting his performance was not his doing alone, and further pointing out that he is not ready for the responsibility of 'carrying' the Buccaneers team.

"A game is a game; sometimes you have your days and sometimes not," Lekwane told KickOff.

"But the major problem was Mofokeng and Oswin Appollis. They lacked supply from the Pirates midfielders.

"The coach said himself that he was giving Mofokeng a new role of playing as an attacking midfielder, but yesterday he took him back to his old position and played him as a winger.

“It frustrates a player sometimes. As a player, you have to master your position," he reasoned.

"Mofokeng knows football a lot, but he has not grown that much in terms of experience. On most occasions, he survives because he knows football. But you cannot expect him to carry a team or make him a captain... you'd be killing the young boy if you do likewise," Lekwane continued.

“He still needs to grow a bit.

"He and Appollis were not getting passes; they had to drop back to collect the ball," he concluded.

Lekwane was not the only one to defend Mofokeng in the aftermath of the game. Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou admitted he made a mistake by pushing the Bafana Bafana international wide in his post-match comments.

"We’ve already discussed Rele’s quality. He’s a clever player who can cover two or three positions in the modern game,” the former international defender stated.

“While he has performed well on the wing, I believe he is most effective as a '10'. Why? Because in the centre, he has 360 degrees of passing and movement options.

"On the flank, the touchline limits him to 180 degrees," Ouaddou added.

“However, we have to manage the squad and our impact players. Today [Wednesday night], we moved him around quite a bit. Usually, when a player settles into a role, they find their rhythm; shifting them multiple times can be destabilising.

"Moving forward, we should aim to keep him more central or stable in one role per game.

"While I gave him and [Oswin] Appollis the freedom to swap sides to surprise the opponent, I think we moved him between the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ too often, which may have disrupted his game," he further explained.

The ex-Fulham star has now revealed his plan to help Mofokeng be more effective in the forthcoming assignments.

“To help him reach the next level, we must believe in him and simulate high-pressure situations in training,” Ouaddou continued.

“At the highest level, you have less time to think and make decisions. With his low centre of gravity, we need to keep challenging him to make those elite-level decisions under constant pressure," the Bucs tactician concluded.