Orlando Pirates coach Muhsin Ertugral refused to be drawn into Edwin Gyimah’s absence from the match-day 18 in their goalless draw with Cape Town City on Tuesday. The Ghanaian was absent for the first time this season in the Buccaneers setup. His exclusion came a week after a reported bust-up at the Cape Town airport on September 14 when the club was making it's way back to Johannesburg after a win over Ajax Cape Town.
“No, we don’t speak about that issue. Gyimah has apologised to me. We don’t speak about that. We leave it in the hands of the club,” Ertugral said.
In Gyimah’s absence, Ertugral partnered Happy Jele with Justice Chabalala at centreback with Abbubaker Mobara playing at right back. Issa Sarr played at the heart of midfield where he lost the ball a lot just after gaining possession. It led to Ertugral substituting him at halftime because the coach felt he played into the hands of the City attack.
“The point for me is that in the first half, in the three instances he (Sarr) gave away the ball with square passes in front of the opponent’s line, they read that quickly,” Ertugral said. “I told my boys that those four who play upfront for Cape Town City are my players from last season, they’re excellent. They will steal balls. They will look at your body language. If it’s inwards, it’s easy to see where you are going to pay the ball and they will win it.
“That was one of the reasons behind our (Mpumalanga Black Aces) success last season, winning balls in the opposition’s half. We spoke about that a lot this week. We lost the ball four times like that. We also lost a player who was going to be important for us. I know it sounds like an excuse now. Gift (Motupa) was a player that we needed. Tendai (Ndoro) makes half-left runs and it’s clear that in that area the centreback will always be with our striker which would have left room for Gift to be one on one with the other centreback. We looked into that.”
Ertugral will have to iron out those problems before taking on Bidvest Wits at Bidvest Stadium on Saturday night.
Independent Media