Orlando Pirates midfielder Patrick “Tito” Maswanganyi has vowed he won’t change the way he plays amid criticism that at times he doesn’t release the ball early enough.
Maswanganyi, who made a shock move to Pirates from SuperSport United at the start of the season, has already established himself as a regular under coach Jose Riveiro with 15 league starts this season.
Tito has been accused of keeping the ball for too long even when the easier option is to release it.
“I wouldn’t want to change. This is how I play and this is how I’ve been playing ever since I started playing football. This is what I know. If the coach tells me to do something I will do it but I can’t change the way I play,” Maswanganyi said at AB Xuma Primary School in Orlando East, where Pirates and their sponsor Vodacom handed out hundreds of school shoes as part of their back-to-school campaign, yesterday.
“Being criticised is part of football. As a player you need to know that you don’t have to take negative opinions seriously. Everybody has his or her own opinion about the game, so for me it’s quite interesting when they say I have to improve on this and that.”
Pirates stars and staff, including the club’s football director Mpumi Khoza, heralded a boisterous environment at AB Xuma Primary School as pupils and teachers gave them a warm welcome. Thembinkosi Lorch and Monnapule Saleng were the names pupils chanted the most in jubilation. Faces of youngsters became even brighter when it was time to finally receive pairs of shoes from their Pirates idols.
Having missed just one of Pirates’ 16 DStv Premiership fixtures, Tito is convinced he’s had a solid season as an individual, albeit admitting as a collective it’s been far from satisfying as they’ve collected 25 points from possible 48.
“It’s been a great season so far for me but it’s been a hard season for us as a team. We’ve been through a lot as a team but we’ve stood our ground,” said the Pirates man with three goals and one assist in the league so far.
“We will keep fighting and we hope to get more good results when action resumes. We want to get the results for ourselves and our fans because we know that they are not very happy with us at the moment. We want to keep our fans happy.”
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Image: ANTONIO MUCHAVE
Orlando Pirates midfielder Patrick “Tito” Maswanganyi has vowed he won’t change the way he plays amid criticism that at times he doesn’t release the ball early enough.
Maswanganyi, who made a shock move to Pirates from SuperSport United at the start of the season, has already established himself as a regular under coach Jose Riveiro with 15 league starts this season.
Tito has been accused of keeping the ball for too long even when the easier option is to release it.
“I wouldn’t want to change. This is how I play and this is how I’ve been playing ever since I started playing football. This is what I know. If the coach tells me to do something I will do it but I can’t change the way I play,” Maswanganyi said at AB Xuma Primary School in Orlando East, where Pirates and their sponsor Vodacom handed out hundreds of school shoes as part of their back-to-school campaign, yesterday.
“Being criticised is part of football. As a player you need to know that you don’t have to take negative opinions seriously. Everybody has his or her own opinion about the game, so for me it’s quite interesting when they say I have to improve on this and that.”
Pirates stars and staff, including the club’s football director Mpumi Khoza, heralded a boisterous environment at AB Xuma Primary School as pupils and teachers gave them a warm welcome. Thembinkosi Lorch and Monnapule Saleng were the names pupils chanted the most in jubilation. Faces of youngsters became even brighter when it was time to finally receive pairs of shoes from their Pirates idols.
Having missed just one of Pirates’ 16 DStv Premiership fixtures, Tito is convinced he’s had a solid season as an individual, albeit admitting as a collective it’s been far from satisfying as they’ve collected 25 points from possible 48.
“It’s been a great season so far for me but it’s been a hard season for us as a team. We’ve been through a lot as a team but we’ve stood our ground,” said the Pirates man with three goals and one assist in the league so far.
“We will keep fighting and we hope to get more good results when action resumes. We want to get the results for ourselves and our fans because we know that they are not very happy with us at the moment. We want to keep our fans happy.”
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