George Maluleka has revealed his desire to be more consistent in his game, in addition to scoring more goals for Kaizer Chiefs.
The 28-year-old broke on to the scene just over ten years ago when he secured a move from University of Pretoria to SuperSport United. The highly rated midfielder enjoyed loan spells with Ajax Cape Town and AmaAtuks before signing a three-and-a-half year contract with Chiefs in 2014.
The midfielder formed part of the highly-acclaimed Amajita squad that did duty at the 2007 World Cup. However, Maluleka hasn’t been able to follow in the footsteps of former teammates Darren Keet, Ramahlwe Mphahlele, Andile Jali, Thulani Serero, Kamohelo Mokotjo and Kermit Erasmus in making the jump to the national team on a permanent basis.
‘One of the things I lack in my game is consistency,’ he told IOL.
‘I have been working on it. So far so good, with the help of my teammates and the technical staff.
‘In this day and age, consistency is very important because you have games coming in thick and fast. You need to make sure that you always perform at your best.’
With Chiefs set to duty against Bidvest Wits in the semi-finals of the Telkom Knockout, Maluleka has fixed his sights on scoring more goals alongside midfield partner Hendrick Ekstein.
‘In the midfield department, between me and (Hendrick) Ekstein, we should take the responsibility to score goals.
‘It’s one of our tasks to help the team get goals. We should be able to get ourselves in scoring positions. If I am not high up, I will be helping the team defend.
‘If the strikers aren’t scoring goals, the midfield should be helping out. Between the three of us [myself, Willard Katsande and Ekstein], it’s up to me and Ekstein to find the goals.
‘I don’t think that there’s a player that doesn’t like scoring goals.
‘If I can put myself in scoring positions more often, I definitely would, but at times it might be the game plan that’s put forward that might prevent me from going forward. I would love to score goals more than I currently am.
‘The responsibility should be, and is put to ‘Pule’ Ekstein. I can maybe join in a bit later in our attack. The way we play, it’s defence first, and we’ll join in later,’ he concluded.
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