Mamelodi Sundowns defender Motjeka Madisha has revealed that the one thing he had struggled most with during his early days at Chloorkop was his communication skills.
Madisha has arguably been one of Sundowns success stories of late as he has become a stalwart in a side which has several experienced defenders such as Wayne Arendse, Ricardo Nascimento, Bangaly Soumahoro and Thabo Nthethe in it.
However, the 23-year-old admits that it wasn’t very easy at first, making the switch to the senior side especially, where he needed to communicate effectively and assert his authority with players many years his senior.
“The first thing that I had to work on to grow as a player was communication,” Madisha told the Sunday Independent.
“I wasn’t very vocal towards my teammates. I was kind of quiet. I wasn’t telling them when they were making mistakes. I think that being young played a role in that. I couldn’t bring myself to shout at players who are older than me,” he explained.
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“I had to respect them. But they told me at the start of this season that if I had to shout I should shout. That’s what helped me get over it. This season I have improved a little bit. I am also improving on my positional play. I am not where I would like to be but I am better than I was when I started getting regular game time,” Madisha added.
Meanwhile, Sundowns are currently four points ahead of closest rivals Kaizer Chiefs. But it wasn’t always as smooth as the Brazilians' current position suggests, particularly at the beginning of the campaign where Madisha acknowledges that it was only down to the hard work that they put in earlier in the season that they are reaping the rewards now.
“We had a rough journey at first whereby we didn’t do well in the MTN8, the Caf Champions League and the league,” Madisha said.
“We managed to bounce back by consistently collecting maximum points. If you check where we are now, we worked hard to be here. We might not be good starters but once we gain momentum we are strong,” he expressed.
