Orlando Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi has come out and explained why they cannot give more details on Gabadinho Mhango’s continued absence from the squad for the better of his career.
Mhango has made just one substitute appearance for Pirates since shining for Malawi at the African Cup of Nations, with fans and media continuously being left surprised by his absence.
When asked about Mhango ahead of their CAF Confederations Cup clash with Royal Leopards, Ncikazi revealed that he can’t tell the full truth about the player to protect his career but also the club.
“For the Mhango issue, we have a responsibility to Mhango to protect him and protect his career,” Ncikazi said on Saturday.
“Equally the same with the captain [Happy Jele]. Starting with the captain next to me, he’s a professional, this is a top professional, we wouldn’t leave him out of the team without having a discussion with him.
“We’re managing the situation, we’ve got six defenders, all of them wanting to play. So we manage the team, there is discussions who do you chose for which matches, what formation and trying to win in the process.
“Same for Mhango. I can’t as a coach come out publicly and say an irresponsible statement, which is the truth. Because it’s either you’ll be killing Mhango’s career, you’ll be disrespecting the badge, you’ll be disrespecting the supporters.
“So in the process you’re trying to protect the environment, protect Mhango.
“Can you imagine if I were to come out publicly – I’m making an example – and say Mhango does not come to training and say Mhango has got issues outside of training. We can’t select him if he’s not coming to training.
“The sounds irresponsible to me, so I try to protect the environment.”
Ncikazi also insisted that he understands the frustration of the fans but insisted favouritism doesn’t play a role in their team selection.
“I know the frustration of supporters, it comes to the coaches and the insults,” he added.
“But as a coach you have a responsibility to take the insults and the frustration of the supporters and you take that rather than shifting the blame and taking it to the players.
“Currently as coaches, we know the team is not doing well and we understand the frustration of supporters and we are hoping and praying that the results will change.
“We’re trying to put the best team forward, we don’t have favourites but we just have players that are following protocols, training properly and they are ready to play.
“The fact that we’re not getting the desired results, doesn’t mean they’re players that are favoured. We look at players the same way, catch the data, we look at their performance in the field and then we take decisions.”
Pirates will host Leopards at the Orlando Stadium at 18:00 on Sunday.
