Qalinge can be devastating if he can polish basics‚ says Micho

Thabo Qalinge has all the attributes to be a devastating attacking force for Orlando Pirates in the Premier Soccer League but he must learn to get the basics right in crucial moments of the game.

This is the view of his coach Milutin “Micho”‚ Sredojevic who said that sometimes the end product of the speedy Qalinge is not up to scratch because he has a rush of blood to the head and ends up complicating simple situations.

“He must have a much better conversion ratio and for that to happen he needs to cool himself down when chances arrive‚” Sredojevic said.

“He is an extremely fast and talented player and in certain situations you need a cool head. The hardest thing to have is killer instinct and put the ball in the net but sometimes blood enters the head.

“He is a very important member of the team‚ he works very hard‚ he moves without the balls in angles that are needed‚ he creates chances‚ but there are certain areas where he must improve.”

Sredojevic said he and his technical team have taken the responsibility for improving Qalinge and his teammates.

“We must do man-management. This is the masterpiece of coaching that I must do together with my technical team.

“We are going to have to use the power of coaching to try and sort out these issues‚” the coach said‚ indicating that his attackers need to adjust their technique to certain conditions.

“What I would like to say is that all our fields in South Africa are up to standard. And I have looked at FNB Stadium‚ Orlando Stadium and many other stadiums.

“From the centre towards the goal there is a downslide‚ you see how many times in our football a player who shoots goes over the bar. It is because players are not technically leaning on the ball – when you put your body back‚ the ball technically goes up.

“One of the countries that have the biggest conversion rates in this planet is Brazil where‚ when they come towards goal‚ they look to miss goalkeeper.

“On Wednesday‚ two things happened where Qalinge missed the Sundowns goalkeeper Denis Onyango and the goal.”