Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has explained why Siyabonga Mabena is not enjoying more first-team minutes compared to his peer at Orlando Pirates, Relebohile Mofokeng.
At 19, Mofokeng has become a regular in the Pirates line-up and has enjoyed another good season since he broke through last campaign, after being nominated for the DStv Premiership Young Player of the Season award.
Mabena has shown potential whenever given a time at Sundowns but is yet to crack it into the regular team consistently.
The 17-year-old has become somewhat of a fan-favourite despite his lack of game-time.
Asked whether Mabena would feature more next season, Mokwena pleaded for more patience after explaining that the situation is different to Pirates, where Mofokeng has thrived under Jose Riveiro.
"He needs training. Unfortunately, unlike with Pirates, they have training time. Kids need training, that's why the most ideal scenario for them was to have Sinethemba Badela (DStv Diski Challenge head coach) with them and they could train more with them," Mokwena told reporters after Downs' 1-0 loss to Cape Town City.
"Because the only way you can fulfill your potential is by making mistakes and unfortunately at Sundowns, those mistakes are not at training, they are during games.
"And you could even see (against Cape Town City) even with a good performance, his first 90 (minutes), but his game is full of mistakes. The game against TS Galaxy, his game is full of mistakes," he added.
"But that's how youngsters are, the kids need to make mistakes. The only way they learn is by making mistakes and being encouraged to make mistakes and then you coach.
"How I look at it, developing players, and maybe it's because of my youth background, is we work on what we have and we try to improve the strengths and the only way to identify the strengths is through the weaknesses and how do you do that, is through training time."
Sundowns were involved in an unprecedented six competitions this season, with their schedule not giving them enough training time.
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