I was unfairly criticised at Chiefs and Sundowns – Manqele

Edward Manqele says he played his best football at Moroka Swallows FC, while spells at Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns didn’t go accordingly for the player.  

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Manqele explains the reason behind his good form at the Birds, saying it was thanks to being surrounded by good players who understood him and says at times strikers are being criticised without looking at other factors when they are not scoring goals.

“I think I played my best football at Swallows. You know, football is a team sport and if you guys understand each other, especially when you’re a striker things will be simple for you. I think I was the top goal-scorer at Swallows because I had good understand with the guys who were also good passers of the ball. They knew when I would make a run where they should pass the ball at. Guys like Lerato Chabangu, Lefa Tsutsulupa, Siyabonga Nomvethe and Dikgang Mabalane,” said Manqele, who will be playing for Pretoria Callies in the GladAfrica Championship.

“I think that’s why I enjoyed my football because everything was simple. And you know at other teams if you don’t score it becomes a problem. But they don’t understand where the scoring starts from. Those are things that most people don’t check, they will just say a certain play is not scoring or Manqele is not scoring not looking or checking if I have midfielders who are supplying me with the passes to score goals because I’m not playing alone.”

The Randfontein born striker also reminisced  about his first season in the Premier Soccer League with Free State Stars, adding that former teammate Dove Wome was highly involved in him scoring 11 goals in the 2011/12 season.

“If you remember even at Free State Stars, there was Dove Wome, he knew my movements very well because we practiced it at training. Steve Komphela would stop training if Wome passes the ball to someone else. He would tell him to start the move and pass it to me because he is the one who knew my movements and I would be able to score. So, these are the things that people need to start checking before criticising strikers. Unless you see if maybe then a certain striker is getting all the supply but not scoring, then that’s the problem,” commented Manqele.