Golden Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi has clarified a statement he said about Orlando Pirates when he was still at Mamelodi Sundowns.
The 53-year-old tactician was sacked by Masandawana in December after an inconsistent start to the 2024/25 season.
He has now returned to Golden Arrows in KwaZulu-Natal, taking on the head coach role.
Earlier in the season, while still in charge of the Brazilians, Mngqithi had suggested that Pirates would find it tough to compete for the league, citing their tendency to falter against smaller clubs.
‘I SOUNDED CONTROVERSIAL’
“I also sounded controversial with a lot of people when I said these teams don’t have depth and they struggle to beat small teams,” Mngqithi told iDiski Times.
“It is not because the other clubs lack quality, but it is because you can guess their starting 11. And when you do that [use a consistently similar line-up], and you are competing on all these fronts, domestic league, cup competitions and the Champions League, it takes its toll on the players.
“So, you need to have a broader squad that can ultimately give you the chance to rest some players while not losing sight of the competition.
“I think at Sundowns, we had mastered that part, we focused on periodising the squad to be able to compete all the way to the end of the Champions League, which we just struggled to win.
“And it was never really an issue of quality and all that, it was just that mistakes in the Champions League are really costly.”
