Cape Town City was without the services of their team's captain, Lebogang Manyama yesterday and Head Coach Benni McCarthy has since explained his reasoning for leaving the player out of the squad.
City claimed a 1-0 victory over Bidvest Wits in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-finals at the Cape Town Stadium on Sunday, August 27 and as revealed by the Siya crew prior to the match, Manyama was left out of the matchday squad, as talk of his potential move away from City escalated.
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Head Coach McCarthy since explained the reason for Manyama's absence by saying, "I just felt like, I made changes last week to this side and I left Lebo in and obviously I didn't get what I was looking for out of the performance against Platinum Stars because of everything that is going on in the media, the news, is he going to go, is he going to stay? And I just felt that this week, more so than ever, his mind, he wasn't here.
"He was at training, he was present, but I had a chat with him and obviously that was the general feeling that I got, so I thought that the most noble thing to do is, when a player plays with a half-heart and mind, you are not going to get his full worth and potential and the fans are going to get on his back because of the news - I don't want fans to start becoming impatient with him," McCarthy told media after the game.
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"It is not his fault, you can't control your mind to a certain extent and the right thing to do is just keep him out of the firing line of people having a go at him so that is why I felt, this game is going to need 100% concentration, 100% commitment from everyone and if you are not going to give 100% then it is better that you are out of the team," he added.
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