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By Sibongiseni Gumbi

Football Writer


Crisis meeting at Swallows after shameful MTN8 exit

'They decided not to follow the instructions anymore,' said Simo Dladla.


Swallows FC’s interim coach Simo Dladla says he will hold a crisis meeting with the players to find out what went wrong in their 4-0 defeat to Cape Town City in the MTN8 semifinal second leg on Wednesday night.

ALSO READ: Soweto’s MTN8 hopes evaporate as Swallows are swept away by City

Dladla says he believes City were not as strong as the scoreline suggests in the game at Dobsonville but feels the Birds let themselves down.

“I am disappointed, especially with the way we played the last five minutes of the first half and the rest of the game after that. That is because I saw a different team in the first 40 minutes and a different team thereafter,” said Dladla.

“I will definitely sit with the players and try and unpack this performance because I think there is a problem that we need to put on the table and discuss. I don’t really think it is because they are unable to do the business but something just kicked in with them and they decided not to follow the instructions anymore.

“The decision-making was suddenly not there anymore, we were not pressing them anymore, we were not committed anymore. I think that can only be mental.”

Asked what could have brought this about, Dladla said: “Your guess is as good as mine… Right now I hope I can get through to them to say ‘guys let’s talk’ because honestly, I don’t think City were stronger than us in such a way that they could score four goals. We just withdrew ourselves. That’s something we need to discuss and engage ourselves in a correct manner to make sure we get the results going forward.”

Read more on these topics

Cape Town City F.C. Moroka Swallows F.C.

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