{"id":27826,"date":"2025-09-09T09:27:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T07:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/?p=27826"},"modified":"2026-03-12T09:53:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T07:53:24","slug":"orlando-pirates-dependent-on-mbule-and-mofokeng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/orlando-pirates-dependent-on-mbule-and-mofokeng\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Pirates Too Dependent on Mbule and Mofokeng, Says Junior Khanye"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Former Kaizer Chiefs winger Junior Khanye has raised concerns over Orlando Pirates\u2019 heavy reliance on individual players. He emphasised that Pirates relied on Relebohile Mofokeng and Sipho Mbule to secure results this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Buccaneers endured a difficult start to their Betway Premiership campaign, suffering back-to-back defeats. However, they have since bounced back with three straight league victories. They also booked their place in the MTN8 final after knocking out defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite this resurgence, Khanye insists that Pirates\u2019 title credentials remain questionable unless they show more consistency and reduce their dependence on individual brilliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-pirates-rely-too-much-on-mofokeng-s-influence\"><strong>\u201cPirates rely too much on Mofokeng\u2019s influence\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking on his YouTube channel, Khanye argued that the Soweto giants\u2019 system is built around certain players delivering game-changing moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCan Pirates win the league? At Pirates you need specific players to step up. They rely on individual brilliance, you need Rele (Mofokeng) to do something special,\u201d Khanye said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cOnce you pocket Rele or Mbule, I don\u2019t think Pirates can rise. If three or four of those key players don\u2019t show up, Pirates struggle. It\u2019s more of an individual team than a collective.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Khanye also drew comparisons with the past, recalling how the Buccaneers historically depended on standout talents such as the late Gift Leremi, Lebohang \u201cCheese\u201d Mokoena, Benedict \u201cTso\u201d Vilakazi, and Joseph \u201cDukuduku\u201d Makhanya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"gaute-2998398713\" class=\"gaute-inbetween-content gaute-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-top: 30px;margin-bottom: 30px;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><div class=\"gaute-adlabel\">Advertisement<\/div><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1852772760112594\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1852772760112594\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"1819787043\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-mofokeng-s-slow-start-to-the-season\"><strong>Mofokeng\u2019s slow start to the season<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesouthafrican.com\/sport\/soccer\/psl-south-africa\/they-rely-a-lot-on-mofokeng-and-mbule-ex-chiefs-player-warns-pirates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mofokeng<\/a> has yet to register a goal or assist this season in six appearances, despite being linked with a potential move abroad before the transfer window closed. His influence on the pitch, however, remains central to Pirates\u2019 attacking play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Khanye concluded that while Pirates have the potential to challenge for the league, their reliance on a handful of individuals could ultimately prove costly if opponents find a way to neutralise them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related article: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/orlando-pirates-sebelebele-goal-season\/\">Orlando Pirates\u2019 Sebelebele Bags PSL Goal of the Month<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Kaizer Chiefs winger Junior Khanye has raised concerns over Orlando Pirates\u2019 heavy reliance on individual players. He emphasised that Pirates relied on Relebohile Mofokeng and Sipho Mbule to secure results this season. The Buccaneers endured a difficult start to their Betway Premiership campaign, suffering back-to-back defeats. However, they have since bounced back with three<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":27828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"Former Kaizer Chiefs winger Junior Khanye has raised concerns over Orlando Pirates\u2019 heavy reliance on individual players. He emphasised that Pirates relied on...","footnotes":""},"categories":[56,64],"tags":[11118,11108,273,4003],"class_list":{"0":"post-27826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"category-sports-news","9":"tag-latest-football-news","10":"tag-latest-sports-news","11":"tag-orlando-pirates","12":"tag-relebohile-mofokeng"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27826"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27934,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27826\/revisions\/27934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}