Percy is a talented player - Stuart Baxter

by Phumzile Ngcatshe

Tuesday Oct 10, 2017. 10:30

South African national team coach Stuart Baxter has praised Percy Tau after helping the team beat Burkina Faso on Saturday.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup hosts claimed a 3-1 win over the Burkinabe with goals coming from Tau, Themba Zwane and Sibusiso Vilakazi.

After the match, Baxter had good things to say about the Mamelodi Sundowns man but warned that the player must remain grounded.

“I think that (Tokelo) Rantie had done a good job (in recent years). His last performance was very poor, he wasn’t playing enough (at club level) so Percy became a natural choice,” Baxter said to Kick-Off.com.

“I think Percy is a talented player, he’s certainly going to grow and has more to come.

"But at the same time I’m a bit loathed to start – on the back of one performance – bring Percy up onto a pedestal.

“He’s got a lot of work to do, he’s a great lad, he wants to learn and I think he will get better.

“Again, I don’t want to (praise him too much) on the back of one performance, because I think we tend to do that a little too much – not you (media), but we in football do that too much.

“He’s on the right track. When I was younger someone said to me, ‘you’re on the right track son, but keep going otherwise you’ll get hit by a train.’ That’s about where Percy is now – keep going Percy!”