Mngqithi Hints At New Role For Maseko

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has hinted at a potential positional change for winger Thapelo Maseko in the 2024/25 PSL season.
Mngqithi oversaw the club’s pre-season in Austria, where they faced SV Sandhausen, Dynamo Kyiv, Cardiff City, Al-Arabi SC, and Al Hilal.
Despite mixed results in the early stages of the tour, Sundowns showed significant improvement in their later matches, marked by a shift in playing style. Mngqithi has expressed a desire to deviate from the previous possession-based approach and revealed that he experimented with Maseko as a striker during pre-season.
“I played Maseko a lot as a striker in Austria and he has developed in leaps and bounds,” said Mngqithi on the Pitch side podcast.
“I’m thrilled with what I saw because I have some question marks in him as a winger.
“But I think as a striker he’s got something to give because many people believe he’s strong in dribbling, I don’t think so. I think he’s very good from behind because of his pace, and he’s got a very good finish.
“Those two things make him very dangerous as a nine because he’s also a strong boy, he may be a small boy but he’s strong. His first touch is not very bad and to be honest, he also scored some very interesting goals in the process, both in training and the Al Arabi game, he scored a good goal against Sekhukhune before we left.”
Mngqithi further compared Maseko to former Sundowns stars Percy Tau and Khama Billiat, emphasizing his finishing ability over dribbling. “I believe he’s got a very good finishing ability, not so much the dribbling everyone says he’s got. [He can play like] Khama, sometimes close to a Percy as well, but you must know he’s a little bit off physically,” he said.
“I know the boy has the speed, can finish, he’s got the drop of a shoulder, finding space and when he goes into the left foot he will finish. But, going through and beating people, maybe it will happen but he’s not a strong player in that.”
Article by Trevor Magoro