Mngqithi and Mkhulise highlight areas of concern for Sundowns

Mamelodi Sundowns might be enjoying a purple patch of seven straight wins in all competitions at the moment but their coach Manqoba Mngqithi has highlighted a few areas where he wants improvement from his team.

The 2-1 win over Royal AM in a Betway Premiership match on Wednesday night wasn’t perhaps as comfortable as Mngqithi would have liked it to be.

The Brazilians left it late to get a cushion goal after leading 1-0 for the majority of the game.

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As lapse in concentration saw Royal AM grab one back on the stroke of full time after Khuslio Mudau had given Sundowns an insurance goal and Mngqithi wants to avoid such mistakes going forward. 

“On the goal we conceded, I must be honest that I was unhappy and I still need to look at it closely,” Mngqithi said ahead of the trip to Limpopo to play Polokwane City on Sunday at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium. 

“I will look at it closely to see what exactly happened because I felt the centre back was left to go for the ball alone. The rationale of bringing on Bathusi Aubaas was to try to make sure we match their height because it looked like it was going to be the potential to score on set pieces.

“It was irritating to concede that goal and immediately after that, they had a free header inside the box which could have easily forced a game into a draw and for me those situations and the amount of crosses we are allowed into the box is unheard of.”

Mngqithi’s sentiments were shared by midfielder Sphelele Mkhulise who scored the opening goal of the match.

The 28-year-old is also hoping their management of game improves as they target to collect as many points as they can so early into the season. 

“We didn’t play the way we wanted to play and that’s something we need to fix going forward but it wasn’t an easy game. We are happy that we managed to get three points,” the versatile player said. 

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“We’re happy that we saw our mistakes and will rectify them as a team. We want to win every game that we play. It becomes important to collect points so early in the season so that when we get to the end, we know that we have collected points and we don’t depend on other teams.”