Hugo Broos and Stuart Baxter AT ODDS over Njabulo Ngcobo’s best position

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has ruffled the feathers of Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter by saying Njabulo Ngcobo is more suited to playing centre-back than in midfield.

READ | KEAGAN DOLLY TIES 11-YEAR KAIZER CHIEFS SOWETO DERBY RECORD!

Ngcobo, who was a rock at the heart of Swallows defence, was signed by Amakhosi in the off-season.

Somewhat surprisingly he been used in the middle of the field by Baxter this season.

READ | KEAGAN DOLLY’S INCREDIBLE STATS AT AMAKHOSI

Broos initially took a leaf out of Baxter’s book by also selecting Ngcobo as a central midfielder in the 2022 Soccer World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia, but in his latest squad has categorised him as a defender, saying the 23-year-old is clearly not ‘comfortable’ in midfield.

“Njabulo doesn’t play as a defender in his team (Chiefs) and we did it also against Ethiopia and I will not blame Stuart but certainly he is not a midfielder, he is a very good defender and that’s why I took him as a defender,” said Hugo Broos.

“I saw it in the game against Ethiopia, I took him to replace (Mothobi) Mvala because he played in his team and I said okay we will not change so much for this guy but he wasn’t comfortable on the field, you saw it, he is a very good defender, so for me, he is a defender.”

READ | KAIZER CHIEFS LATEST | DUMISANI ZUMA TO FACE THE MUSIC FOR ALLEGED ARREST

Baxter his hit back at the Bafana Bafana coach, saying Broos should have spoken to him directly instead of going public.

“I think it’s unfortunate that we get a discussion about it here because Hugo could come to the [Chiefs] Village and make a club visit and we can discuss what we think about players,” Stuart Baxter said.

“Because we work in a different way than the national coach. I’ve been national coach so I know.

“We see him [Ngcobo] every day, we see him compared to other players, we see the balance within our squad, we see where he can do a job.

“I’d willingly sit down and have a discussion about that with the national coach if he wanted to come to the Village, but I’ve never seen him. So I have to have the conversation with you [the media].

“Now I’ve got my sports science department talking about what they [the Bafana squad] do on national camp, but I don’t discuss that with the media. And I’ve got my opinions about what Bafana do but out of respect for a colleague I don’t have that conversation with you guys.

“So Hugo’s welcome to come to the Village and we’ll discuss Njabulo Ngcobo and Njabulo Blom, and Keagan Dolly and Bruce Bvuma – all of our candidates for Bafana. And I’ll give him my honest opinion.

“And it’s him [Broos] – he’s the man who picks the team. So if he thinks Ngcobo is a defender then he picks him as a defender.”

WATCH HIGHLIGHTS | KEAGAN DOLLY SINKS ORLANDO PIRATES IN EXTRA-TIME