Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has said that Thembinkosi Lorch is now settling in at the club, and beginning to be part of Sundowns’ core group.
Sundowns further stretched their lead at the top of the DStv Premiership table on Saturday, as they beat Chippa United 2-0, with Lorch playing a key role in the performance.
Mokwena said it has taken a bit of time for Lorch to settle in at Chloorkop, but not because of his ability, but rather fitting into a new hierarchy after spending many years at Orlando Pirates.
“He’s ready now, he’s ready, I see him in the change room,” Mokwena said after the game.
“It’s a lot of things, he comes from a team where he’s established the hierarchy because of the number of years so in the change room he’s going to position in the dynamics within the group.
“So he comes into the Sundowns change room, he’s got history and the profile, but he’s got to establish himself in the hierarchy, in the structure, in the dynamics within the group. And of course Lorch with his personality. I know because I worked with him, and I know when he’s settled and when he’s not.
“So when he arrives I could see, I look at the body language, I look, and now I can see a little bit more enthusiastic, he’s got a spring on his step. And that’s what I was waiting for, and you can’t rush that.
“That is the Mother Nature takes that and it’s the same with Tashreeq, it is the same with Esquivel. It’s small things and you see how he interacts with even the ones on top of the food chain, in everything you’ve got that and now you see he gets their trust, they accept him into the group.
“He’s smiling, he connect the passes in the Rondo’s, he’s is in the group, he’s trusted, he’s given the ball even in tight spaces. And that is because he has earned their trust. And Tash has done the same already now, Zuko has done the same and you hear it, you see it and you see even when they hand out bibs to each other you, small things that you look for within the group dynamics.
“It’s not about being a good player, they wouldn’t be here if they were not good players but it’s the smaller things and those are the things I always look out for and sometimes those assist the transition of the individuals and for Lorch I think now he is in the core group and that’s what we brought him here for.”
