New Mamelodi Sundowns centre-back Abdelmounaim Boutouil

New Mamelodi Sundowns centre-back Abdelmounaim Boutouil – Photo: Mamelodi Sundowns website

Manqoba Mngqithi showers praise on Abdelmounaim Boutouil

Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has reserved special praise for Abdelmounaim Boutouil after his Masandawana debut.

New Mamelodi Sundowns centre-back Abdelmounaim Boutouil

New Mamelodi Sundowns centre-back Abdelmounaim Boutouil – Photo: Mamelodi Sundowns website

Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has reserved special praise for Abdelmounaim Boutouil who recently made his Masandawana debut.

The Moroccan centre-back came off the bench when the Tshwane giants whipped La Passe 8-1 in the CAF Champions League second preliminary round return leg at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.

Mngqithi was happy with what he saw in the 24-year-old’s first outing for the club.

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MNGQITHI ON BOUTOUIL

“Technically he’s unbelievable, he makes less mistakes, he’s got a full range of passing, short, medium or long,” Mngqithi told Sundowns.co.za.

“[He makes] passes that break lines and passes that are targeting in the opposite 8, passes that are tagging the opposite wing back or full backs and he can find the striker very easily.

“Technically you can not falter anything from him and he’s also very good on set pieces.

“Aerially he’s a very dominant figure in that space, but his physical condition is not at the right level to make a lot of judgment but we brought him because in almost all of the metrics he’s very close if not better than what you would get from a Ricardo Nascimento.”

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Mamelodi Sundowns defender Abdelmounaim Boutouil
Mamelodi Sundowns defender Abdelmounaim Boutouil – Photo: Mamelodi Sundowns website

In other news, Mngqithi had “question marks” over the performance of Cassius Mailula in their 8-1 victory over La Passe in the CAF Champions League.

Mngqithi praised Mailula who ticked all their boxes – except protecting the ball.

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‘HE MUST IMPROVE’

“To see a young boy that we’ve just promoted now [Mailula] playing the way that he’s playing now, it’s also encouraging,” Mngqithi told Sundowns.co.za.

“Offensively [Mailula] probably achieved all our metrics, he was always in the right positions at the right time, scoring goals for a young boy like that in the Champions League.

“It’s something big, but I still have a lot of question marks with his behavior upon losing ball possession, I think that’s an area that he must improve on which is why I’m saying our high press was not very good and not only because of him, it’s a collective.

“But you would expect that your leading striker should spearhead your high press or counter pressing.”

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