Stellenbosch head coach Gavin Hunt has discussed how his side plans to contain AmaZulu’s in-form striker Thandolwenkosi Ngwenya when the two teams meet in Sunday’s Carling Knockout Cup quarter-final.
The Zimbabwean forward has been in prolific form for Arthur Zwane’s side this season, finding the net 11 times in 11 appearances across all competitions.
Asked by iDiski Times whether Stellenbosch had a specific plan to keep Ngwenya quiet, Hunt joked that they might have to resort to the “old school” approach of man-marking him, but stressed that concentration and awareness would be crucial if they are to deal with the striker’s threat.
“Well, maybe we should do it like we used to do in old days? We go with a man marker, don’t we?” an amused Hunt said at the pre-match press conference, sitting alongside defender Given Msimango.
“As they say about modern football, maybe we should go back to the old ways and man-mark a few people. I can tell you a few stories about man-marking.
“Yeah. So you know, the bottom line is awareness, awareness of the situation, and it should be for any striker, you know what I’m saying. But awareness has to be coming to play. And my guy on my left here, you know, I can only tell him, but if he’s not aware, I mean, you know.
“But yeah, I mean, I’ve had incidents we’ve had man markers, and the team runs out, and the guy’s not playing. What happens now? You know what I mean. So, obviously, he will play on the weekend. There’s no doubt about it. But I mean, yeah, the awareness has to be, and certainly concentration is very important.”
Meanwhile Msimango, who will likely line up alongside young defenders like Luthando Vena and Siviwe Nkwali, concurred with Hunt about the focus, though he joked he didn’t quite like the idea of the “man-marking”.
“Yeah, I think in in terms of game awareness and game intelligence, I think the young guys are doing exceptionally well,” Msimango added.
“The little bit of guidance that I add on, on the pitch, helps, and just unfortunate the last game (the loss to Chippa United in the league) didn’t go our way, but going into the next one, coaches obviously spoke on the technical and tactical elements of man-marking — of which I totally disagree with.
“But on the day, it’s a collective effort as a defence, as midfielders, and attackers to try and mitigate their threats. And I think with the planning that we’ve had this week, we’ve done enough to ensure that we get a good result on the weekend.”