Mngqithi explains why Sundowns could not win against Chippa

Manqoba Mngqithi could have blamed the bumpy pitch at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, or could have easily hidden behind it being the start of the season, and players are not as fit as they should be, but Mngqithi was honest in his review of Mamelodi Sundowns’ dull affair against Chippa United, which ended goalless on Tuesday evening.

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It was Sundowns’ second game in the DStv Premiership this season and the Brazilians have only scored one goal, which was a penalty converted by Themba Zwane.

Mngqithi was quite disappointed but said there are no excuses behind the lukewarm display.  

“At this stage of the season it is not always about the highest level of fitness. The same team managed to play 120 minutes against Kaizer Chiefs in the MTN8, so we would not say the performance against Chippa was because of fitness levels.

“I think the conditioning of the players is okay and it can still improve. There might be other teams that are looking very sharp now, at the highest gear but we know our marathon and that we have to build progressively up until we arrive at the point that we want to get to.

“As coaches, we are happy with the progress that the team is making. It is not a question of the physical conditioning, unfortunately in football, when you don’t win a match, it is easy to go to lack of fitness and other things but the truth of the matter is that we are happy with the progress that the team is making,” said the Downs mentor.

Mngqithi and his coaching partners had an idea of how Gavin Hunt would line-up his team, but still, they could not come up with a good enough strategy to break down Hunt’s side.

“We did not apply ourselves the way we expected. We knew that Gavin was going to be stubborn and we knew the shape they were going to play in to try and frustrate us. We needed a little bit more, our performance was very cautious, lacking the dribbles and we could not force the opponents to face their goal. We expected more one-on-one situations from our wing-backs and we did not get that and it was very disappointing because in a game like this, you expect your team to put their best foot forward,” commented Mngqithi.