“I think the team is doing well and I’m looking at it the wrong way but sometimes in our country, we don’t even watch football,” Mngqithi said.
The notion that the 2024/25 season is not going according to plan for Mamelodi Sundowns doesn’t sit well with their coach Manqoba Mngqithi.
The Brazilians have already missed out on two domestic cup competitions with the latest being the Carling Knockout.
Sundowns snapped a winless run of two games when they hammered Sekhukhune United 3-0 in a Betway Premiership match at the Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.
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Mngqithi is puzzled by those who are questioning how their season has unfolded so far with the league, Nedbank Cup and Caf Champions League still to play for.
“I think the team is doing well and I’m looking at it the wrong way but sometimes in our country, we don’t even watch football. We wait for the result and if it’s a positive one, it means it’s a good performance but personally I think the team is playing well,” the 53-year-old coach said.
Mngqithi reckons their indifferent form has to do with Sundowns’ poor return in front goals in recent matches. Following the loss to Magesi FC in the South African league cup final, Sundowns played to a goalless draw at home to AS Maniema Union of DR Congo last Tuesday.
“When I was talking to the team at the beginning of the season, I said because of all the commotion that was surrounding the team, we’ll benefit a lot from being disrespected. That’s what led to us scoring so many goals because most teams felt that they could go pound for pound and we punished them,” Mngqithi added.
“I also told the team that there’ll be a stage where we’ll be respected and when you’re respected, you’ll understand how difficult it is to win a football match. They adopt strategies of trying to stop the bleeding instead of trying to beat you, minimise space behind themselves and your goal attempts with a low block and it becomes very difficult.
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“When you’re saying that we’re not playing well, I wonder what you’re asking for because what we should be asking ourselves is why can’t we force goals in matches where we’re playing against teams with a low block. In the match against Magesi, we had 20 shots at goal and we could not get one more goal. Against Maniema, we got 17 shots at goal and you can’t score one goal.”
