Sekhukhune United head coach Eric Tinkler has explained why he opted to start new youngsters ahead of the experienced Daniel Cardoso and Linda Mntambo in his side’s 3-2 MTN 8 win over TS Galaxy on Saturday.
Tinkler started five new players in the quarter-final victory at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, including Olerato Mandi and Thokolo Medupi.
Mandi who was signed from Pretoria Callies showed glimpses of brilliance on the night but only lasted 45 minutes before being replaced by the side’s captain, while Medupi finished the game. Tinkler admitted he took a risk starting the two but was impressed by their showing.
“Took a bit risk today to be honest, with two of the youngsters,” said Tinkler.
“Olerato [Mandi] coming in and playing at 10 he is obviously somebody who’s joined us not that long ago. He’s only been part of this squad over the past four weeks of pre-season.
“And I felt that best opportunity for him would be to start him than to bring him off the bench, because if he struggles in the game, we can bring him off and bring someone else. But bringing him off the bench and he struggles, then that’s what really can help the team. So I opted to start him today.
“He had moments where I thought he did well, but I think the physical element of the game is where he struggled, one-vs-one duels he struggled, technically, we can see he’s a very, very good player. But the physical side of the game, he struggled today, and that was an important element in the game.
“We needed to be able to win those individual duels. We needed to be able to go and press with aggression and someone like Linda coming on, replacing him gave us that which is what we didn’t. And because of that, gave us impetus to go forward and obviously get the goals that ended up getting us the win.
“The young boy Medupi be at centre-back, I thought excellent performance overall. He’s a young central defender. Brand of football he was playing last season at Casric completely different to this.
“We’re a possession based team and he’ll make mistakes, which he did. He made a couple of mistakes in the game, but I thought defensively he was extremely solid, which is his primary function, and he did that extremely well. I think he’s got a bright future ahead of him.”
