Orlando Pirates legend Benedict Vilakazi has leapt to the defence of underfire striker Yanela Mbuthuma who has been faced with backlash from a certain section of the club’s fans.
Tso’s comments come on the back of the Betway Premiership defending champions’ 1-1 draw away at AmaZulu on Wednesday where Mbuthuma missed two chances. The result saw the Buccaneers in second place on the log with four points, two points from their arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs after two matches.
The 24-year-old striker has only managed five goals in the league for Pirates since his arrival at the club last season. He has come under fire from fans for the lack of goals with suggestions that the club needs to buy another striker to help him.
‘Tso’ said he understands why people are frustrated with Mbuthuma as he is sometimes however cautions that the forward is reliable in distracting defenders and it should count for something.
“I’m not defending this boy but there’s one or two things that he does well,” said Tso on iDiski TV.
“He can create chances. I know everyone is frustrated that he’s not scoring. I get it. I also sometimes get frustrated to say but my boy what else needs to be done to you.
“When you look at him, he makes good runs and he takes those two centre-backs away from that central position, to create space for the midfielders to come in.
“He does that very well. But now here comes an opportunity for him put the ball in, yes in the first half I could understand because he beat the keeper, but the defender was there to cover.
“That one I can say it does happen but second half I even said you can see the ball comes from your right side and the keeper is here, there’s no way you are going to play it there. I thought he was going to play it back to his left foot because he just needed a tap in…”
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