'Youngsters did very well without him!' Orlando Pirates winger Monnapule Saleng having 'negative impact on Orbit College': 'He has no assists and no goals' - Worried Pogiso Makhoye opens up

Monnapule Saleng fell out with the Orlando Pirates management last season, explaining his absence from the team in the second half of the campaign.

The Bafana Bafana winger was eventually loaned to the Premier Soccer League newcomers Orbit College after Bucs refused to let him leave. 

This was a massive chance for Saleng to show his quality and maybe force his way to the National Team ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Morocco later in the year. 

Saleng has since played four PSL games with his new team, but has not managed an assist or a goal in the process.

The only game he missed was against the Buccaneers owing to contractual terms between the involved parties.

Coach Pogiso Makhoye argues that the team played well against Pirates, but worse when the 27-year-old returned in the next engagement with TS Galaxy. 

The tactician now argues that the winger is not giving Orbit his all, as it should be the case. 

“Well, out of the four games that he has played, I think he’s not the Saleng that we used to see at Pirates. He’s still struggling. He hasn’t given us much, especially in the four games that he has played, as he has no assists and no goals,” Makhoye told Metro FM.

“Even when we played against Pirates, and he was not part of the team, I felt the youngsters did very well without him. However, we will help him adjust to the team, and we are patient with him. But as much as we are patient with him, we need to put the team first. We will work with him and see how we can improve the team.
“The so-called big players, maybe when they came back, they had a negative impact on the team. The team that I watched on Tuesday was a different team from the one I watched on Saturday, so maybe if you don’t have those big-name players, then the players tend to perform very well when they are not on the pitch. So far, I think he has not given us what we expected from him as a big player who comes with a big name," he added.

Those are the things we need to sit down and look at as a team. Are we performing better when he’s not in the team?
“It is a conversation that was had with the player to say that he needs to up his game because we said we had a top game on Tuesday and when he came back into the team, we played a different game," Makhoye concluded.

It is obvious Makhoye has hinted he might consider terminating Saleng's deal if the winger does not give his team what the club needs. 

The international break will definitely give the player a chance to evaluate himself before the PSL resumes in a fortnight.