Orlando Pirates’ new midfield man Sipho Mbule has people talking in South Africa after a brace of assists for Bafana.
However, he’s still got plenty of people to win over.
The playmaker has yet to score or assist in 14 games for the Sea Robbers.
Orlando Pirates fans aren’t sure about Mbule yet
The response to Mbule’s mini renaissance at Pirates is still mixed. Yes, a pair of assists against Zambia in a friendly is a good sign, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a meaningless football match, and Mbule has yet to register a goal or an assist for his new club. As with most talented players, the 27-year-old is dividing opinion. One reader saiid this:
“Mbule isn’t a Master Chef; he would probably burn water”
Pitso Mokoena says this is Mbule’s last chance
Sipho Mbule’s youth coach, Pitso Mokoena, believes this is the last chance for the playmaker to fulfil the promise that his massive talent has been promising since he was a teenager. Mbule was a teen superstar at the now-defunct SuperSport United, developing in parallel to Sundowns’ Teboho Mokoena.
“I told Sipho that he knows the truth about SuperSport United, Sundowns and Sekhukhune. I don’t want to know the stories, but I told him, ‘This is the last chance you’re getting at Pirates”
Mokoena also reflected on the midfielder’s rapid rise from an academy prospect before building a name for himself at SuperSport United, and later earning a big-money move to Sundowns in 2022.
“He moved from the academy to SuperSport United, who were a big team, from there, even after the same pattern and complaints, he moved to Sundowns,” Mokoena recalled.
He didn’t go down, but he went up. I said to him, ‘Maybe that’s why when you arrived at SuperSport, you didn’t see anything wrong because you joined Sundowns, and you thought you were still big and you went to Sekhukhune and you did the same thing.’
“He’s now at Pirates, and he went up again because Chiefs were also looking for him. I said, ‘This is your last chance, and I don’t see you flopping at Pirates and then going to Chiefs or one of the big teams because you’ll go down.
I hope he’s listened. Let’s see.”
Mbule by the numbers at Orlando Pirates
Sipho Mbule has made a satisfactory start to his career with Pirates. However, old habits die hard. Despite getting his hands on the MTN8 title already this term, the 27-year-old playmaker has so far failed to register a single goal or assist in 14 appearances for the Sea Robbers. It might be justified to claim that Mbule lacks killer instinct at the sharp end of the pitch. Can the man known as ‘The Master Chef’ start making magical things in the kitchen again?