Was Jose Riveiro justified in overlooking Tshegofatso Mabasa for Evidence Makgopa at Orlando Pirates? - 'Stats don't lie'

Tshegofatso Mabasa's agent, Gary Cassisa, has defended the Orlando Pirates striker after he was underused by the former coach, Jose Riveiro.

Under Riveiro, who is now in charge of Al Ahly, Evidence Makgopa was trusted more to lead the attacking line. However, Cassisa said Mabasa deserved more minutes, based on his stats.

"Maybe, but you don't know, coaches are different; they like certain players more than others," Cassisa told KickOff.

"What happens if another coach comes in and likes Makgopa because he's big and he holds the ball?" he asked.

"But the stats are there for the last two seasons; why would you not select him as your number one striker based on those stats? Stats don't lie."

Cassisa also said Mabasa's work rate speaks for itself, and that is why he feels Riveiro could have erred by not trusting his client.

"He's done extra work behind the scenes, he's worked really hard, you can see his body, he's fit, he's in good shape," Cassisa stated.

"He averages about 8 kilometres on the field. You can see the running he does to come back and defend," he continued.

"Have you ever seen Mabasa standing on the field much? He's putting in all the hard work behind the scenes to perform like that; it's not only coming from training at Pirates. So he has done the sacrifice; he has done what he needed to do."

With Pirates set to appoint a new head coach, Mabasa can only wait and see whether his fortunes might change under a new mentor.

Pirates are set to strengthen their squad, and a new striker could be brought on board, making the fight for starting XIs a stiff competition. This means Mabasa and Makgopa will have to pull up their socks even more.

With his agent openly talking about his frustrations over Mabasa's playtime at Pirates, this could raise speculation he might consider offering the striker to other clubs.