Mpho Maleka Congratulates His Tshakhuma Players!

Mpho Maleka Congratulates His Tshakhuma Players! TTM head coach Mpho Maleka praised the efforts of his Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila players as they progressed into the Nedbank Cup final. TTM defeated Mamelodi Sundowns 6-5 on penalties after a 0-0 draw after 120 minutes.

They will now play in their first ever cup final as a DSTV Premiership side. This is a wonderful effort considering the pedigree of opponents they defeated.

New coach Mpho Maleka says that they approached the game with a clear plan.

“I must congratulate the players,” Maleka told SuperSport TV.

“They dug deep. We worked throughout the week on the game plan. We played against the champions here. Make no mistake. We gave it our all. Happy enough with how the plan went.

“It’s a semi-final. It doesn’t matter how you win it. We’re happy with the performance of the guys.

“For us it was all about what can we do on the day of the match. We needed more. The guys continued to do what we were supposed to do. I only believe that this performance will carry through to the league matches.

“To win the final it will be a bonus and an investment for the players.

“For us, the game plan on how we approach them, we said – ok, the best solution for this game, as we learnt from the last game against Sundowns, was to play without fear,” revealed the former Moroka Swallows striker.

“Secondly, let’s try to press them high when need be, and lastly what stood out was our 3-5-2 formation, which we worked hard in identifying their strength.

“Their strength was to go [wide] and if you do that, they are capable of changing to come through the middle, which means tactically they have to change, and we were ready.

“We knew if we lock the wingers or wing backs and central midfielders, that’s where we thought we are fine, we can deal with that.

“Also, they are good runners off the ball, that’s why we kept shouting and reminding that’s what they can do. Once we dealt with that, they felt frustrated.

“That’s where we said, you know what, we are on for this game, chances will be there. The game plan was all about denying them space to play, because they can play between the lines. We are happy the players executed the game plan.”

Mpho Maleka Congratulates His Tshakhuma Players!