Long-time South African Premiership manager Muhsin Ertugral has questioned South Africa head coach Hugo Broos' decision to leave the likes of Relebohile Mofokeng on the bench, unused, in Bafana's FIFA World Cup opening defeat to Mexico.
Bafana lost 2-0 at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on June 11, with a number of mistakes across the park allowing El Tri to take advantage and slip past Ronwen Williams and his defence.
Ertugral, who has coached Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, and been a technical advisor to the Turkiye national team, was baffled by the likes of Mofokeng not being used at all, given the Buccaneers youngster's ability to change the game.
The Turkish tactician wrote on Instagram: "For me, the biggest mistake was not the misplaced pass from Ronwen [that led to the first goal]. The biggest mistake was asking to play a game, at that stage with a lineup that doesn't match the strengths.
"If you are going to be most of the match defending deep and attacking space in transition, the question is why leave your best transition weapons on the bench?
"If you not use your transition identity with players like [Oswin] Apollis and Mofokeng and want to progress over possession, those are exactly the players you would expect to build the plan around."
Bafana were lacking any forward momentum for most of the match, and looked stilted in midfield, so they had very few opportunities to score, and were almost always doing the defending.
Ertugral felt this tactic was against Bafana's natural attacking style of play: "My criticism is that they couldn't be themselves. Bafana is a team based for offensive transition and that troubled opponents during qualification and last AFCON.
"I don't think, before the game, that they could choose to be a positional team capable of breaking Mexico's pressure. I think the boys got stuck in between. Bafana was a teams that lived between identities and that's not forgiving at that level.
"There is lots of debate about playing from the back, at least not in the first 30 min. The logic behind building from the back is clear, isn't it ? Every possession is valuable! If you play long from a goal kick, there's a good chance the ball becomes a 50-50.
"The question is how many times can you reach the last third that you are so obsessed with protecting the ball and possession, especially the first 30 min.
"Even if you can get over the first line of pressing with short passes, it's clear with the player chosen in midfield, you are going to lose it in midfield anyway."
It remains to be seen whether Broos will deploy Mofokeng against Czechia on June 18 in their next group A clash, or if the Belgian will stick with his defensive line-up.