MaZulu FC COACH, Arthur Zwane, has urged not to put pressure on his defender, Wandile Dube, to immediately be compared to Bekezeli “TLB” Mbokazi due to the differences in the situations they faced in their respective teams.
Dube (21) is one of the players promoted to MaZulu’s big scheme at the beginning of this season from the DStv Diski Challenge.
In the eight games he has played, the left-footed centre-back has started two. He started in the league against Magesi FC and in the Nedbank Cup against Casric Stars, replacing Keagan Allan who was injured.
“Dube is a very promising player. He is a rare breed (of players). He can be a special player. He needs time, a player like him should not be thrown into the lion’s den when the team is not doing well.
“He needs to be played when things are going well in the team so that he will be able to settle down because if you expect a lot from him, you put pressure on him, he will make mistakes that could build him or kill him.
“That’s why this season we are waiting for the right time to play him. If you look at the mistakes he has made in other games he has played, they are mistakes any young player can make and learn from,” said Zwane.
“I have no doubts that he has a bright future. What worries me is that some are starting to compare him with other players like Mbokazi, which is where the problem starts.”
“If you compare Mbokazi’s situation with Dube’s, it is very different because when Mbokazi came to Pirates, the team won, they have experienced players (in the back wall) who play in the national team. Players like Sibisi (Nkosinathi) who has played more than 200 games including national team games.
“Then you look at the situation of Dube, who came to a team that is being rebuilt and is still trying to find a way forward. If he makes mistakes and the team doesn’t win, he will start to doubt himself, which is what we are trying to avoid. So we put him in slowly, slowly so he can get used to it and I believe we put him in at the right time because of Keagan’s injury.”
Mbokazi, who was promoted from the big scheme of Pirates in the middle of last season, came to the national team, Bafana Bafana, and made a spectacle. It has become history that he is now playing for the Chicago Fire in the USA who signed him in January.