Kapinga not yet ready to play for Sundowns – Mngqithi

Indications are that Mamelodi Sundowns are planning to turn Lesedi Kapinga into a Thapelo Morena and Lyle Lakay type of player as the duo joined Masandawana as out and out wingers, but were later converted into full-flying wing-backs, as the modern game dictates.

READ: Sundowns co-coach Mngqithi rues missed chances in TTM draw

Kapinga was among the first players to join Sundowns in their recent recruitment frenzy when he joined the Pretoria outfit from Black Leopards.

Three games into the season, he has not featured at all for the club and co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi says he and his technical team are still polishing Kapinga’s defensive attributes.

“He is not injured, he is still trying to adjust to the conditions at Sundowns,” said Mngqithi when asked about the 25-year-old’s involvement or lack thereof.

“He is a very good player offensively but there is still a lot of work to do defensively and at Sundowns we expect everybody to help the team when we don’t have the ball and work really hard to regain possession of the ball, that is one aspect of his game that he needs to improve.

“He is also not taking good care of the ball, he loses the ball easily and in a big team like Sundowns when you lose the ball now and again, we are always exposed to counter attacks. Those are some of the areas he still needs to improve on. He is a very good player, we know what he is capable of but there is still a lot of work we need to do for him to really command a start or a substitute position,” Mngqithi explained Kapinga’s situation.

Nonetheless, Downs did not have the best of days in the office on Wednesday night when they were held to a goalless draw by rookies Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila at Loftus Versfeld. The Masandawana mentor admits there was an air of disappointment after the game.

“Not getting maximum points is always disappointing for a team like Sundowns and we did do a lot to win the game but we must not take away their gut because they work very hard defensively which made it very hard for us,” he said.

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