Pitso has confidence in assistant Mngqithi

Mosimane will be serving his first-ever touchline suspension as a coach, after he was red-carded by referee Victor Gomes a week ago at the same stadium against Cape Town City.

The Sundowns coach said he has confidence in his right-hand man Manqoba Mngqithi to take charge of the side, while he looks on as a spectator.

“There is no need for the cellphone when you have a good assistant that has been at the highest level, you are able to talk to them and they are able to pass on instructions. I was smiling in the stands (against City) and I was not telling anybody to tell Manqoba anything because he knows the plan. We do match analysis together.

“You empower your assistant coach so that the day Gomes is in his ‘happy mood’ you should be able to deal with it,” he said.

“It also teaches you to involve the people you are with in terms of your plans and your thinking. It is up to you as a head coach on how you work with your assistant coach. Sometimes the head coaches do their own thing and the assistants only see the line-up on match-day,” he added.

The Nedbank Cup is the domestic knockout competition that Mosimane admires the most.

“I love it,” said Mosimane.

“The further small teams advance, they get more money and hopefully they save the money to strengthen the team and fight for promotion wherever they are. It has some meaning and empowers everybody, that is why I like it. And it also spotlights the players that we never saw, like the Baroka FC players we didn’t know about. It also gives a team a chance to play in the Caf Confederation Cup.”