Golden Arrows coach Steve Komphela says the game of football in the country is crying out loud for players such as Jabu “Pule” Mahlangu, Ace Mnini, and Teenage Dladla, who were taking defenders on to unlock the defensive blocks applied by coaches nowadays.  

Komphela was referencing Siyanda Mthanti, who he said the game reminded him of players such as Manchester City duo – Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku who likes to take players on and whip in crosses.  

Mthanti, out wide, was too hot to handle for Royal AM in an exciting match at Mpumalanga Stadium on Saturday, where Komphela’s side were held to a draw.  

“He (Mthanti) comes from our youth system,” said Komphela of Mthanti. 

Komphela knows well how dangerous Mthanti is because the winger scored against Komphela’s Moroka Swallows in the first game of the season between the two sides at the very same venue.  

“He killed me, and I was saying, ‘Who is this one’,’ revealed Komphela.  

“If you look at Manchester City, they put Grealish and they say work on him (against the defender), dribble, dribble, dribble. Jeremy Doku, work on him, dribble, dribble, dribble. Even when PSG scored by Vitinha (against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League last week), it was from a dribble and lots of games (won) come from players dribbling. 

“Because coaches are so organized now to unlock. If you want to unlock them, you need one-on-one players who are capable of dribbling and Mthanti is like that. 

“I’m sure many teams, with time, will move towards acknowledging the fact that we need to go back to Jabu Pule style of players, Ace Mnini, Teenager Dladla, to unlock these defenses because everyone is sitting in the block.  

“You look at Real Madrid, they sit 10 players in the box, what do you do? You need to dribble to create a foul.”  

Another player who has been a revelation for the Arrows is Lungelo Nguse, who scored the consolation goal when the Arrows were hammered three weeks ago by Orlando Pirates.  

Nguse is mobile – he can hold up; he can drop deep to link up and can take players on, with Komphela saying he is playing the same way as Danny Welbeck of Brighton.  

“I will give you an example – if you look at an example of Welbeck, I don’t know when Brighton is going to be playing, but look how far they drop,” said Komphela. 

“Even Arsenal, how far they drop, because they want to create a counterattack. You can only play on the counterattack after you get the ball from the opponents. What they are doing is exactly what we want to do.”