Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has sent a warning to Bongani Zungu, who has only started two games for the Masandawana this season.
Zungu, who joined the club on a free transfer after his deal with Ligue 2 side Amiens had expired, made a rare starting XI appearance in Sundowns 3-2 win over Richards Bay in the Nedbank Cup.
It was only his second start since his return to Chloorkop, while he has featured in just eight matches overall.
After the match, Mokwena was asked about Zungu, who had to overcome some fitness issues earlier in the campaign but still doesn’t feature regularly in his in-form side.
“Good player, but comes into a very good squad,” Mokwena said.
“Interesting conversation I had the other day, I was listening to a podcast and there [Jurgen] Klopp was speaking about the difference between entitlement and empowerment and he was saying he’s not coaching the players to give them a sense of entitlement but he’s coaching them to give them a sense of empowerment.
“In that he tries to teach them. It’s not just based on football but also life. Even when he’s not in and around them, the words need to resonate in their heads.
“And it’s the same with all our players. Our players have lots of good qualities and everybody should be good enough to play and that’s why they are at Mamelodi Sundowns.
“But we have to empower them with the right life principles, where they don’t feel a sense of… and this is the talk we even had prior to the match that you look at Liverpool, for example, last season, maybe even the last three or four seasons a team that was on the cusp of glory, Champions League finals, one point maybe to decide the Championship, 94, 95, 96 points, something like that.
“Very, very good players, but what happened to them this season? There is no sense of entitlement in football.
“Man City, incredible last four, five, maybe even eight seasons, consistently breaking records, reaching Champions League finals and maybe even having the feeling that they could win the Champions League and this season second to Arsenal, even with an aggressive push. No sense of entitlement in football.
“Chelsea, they signed all the most promising young players and they spend a lot of money to very, very good players into their squad. What happens, [they were] still not getting the result that closes the gap to Arsenal. That’s football.
“Football has very little regard for name, reputation, money and value and whatever. Football has what do put and you invest and because of what you put and invest, it gives back. So Zungu has to understand that he has to compete with everybody and that’s life, because life is unfair.
“Those are the empowerment values that we try to give to all our players and everybody must fight for their place in the team like you fight to achieve things in life. Nothing in life is given to you on a silver platter, you have to fight things in life. You have to fight to achieve a starting place in this team. You have to fight to be in very good physical condition and concentrate, because those are the values that life will demand from you.”
Sundowns return to action on Saturday, when they will host Al-Hilal Omdurman in the CAF Champions League.
