Sundowns warned of a tough task breaking down Hunt’s Chippa

Having faced Gavin Hunt so many times times in his career, Manoqba Mngqithi believes that his opposite number may deploy cagey tactics when Chippa United host Mamelodi Sundowns in the DStv Premiership on Tuesday evening.

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Mngqithi and his coaching partners Rulani Mokwena and Steve Komphela have studied the Chilli Boys’ opening game of the season, where they won 1-0 against debutants Sekhukhune FC.

Mngqithi is of the view that Sundowns will need to dig deep to dismantle Hunt’s supposedly stubborn team.

“Knowing Gavin Hunt, we are expecting a tough match because the goal that they scored against Sekhukhune was from a set-piece, they have got very strong players in Sammy Seabi, Vuluyeke Zulu, even (Bienvenu) Eva Nga, he is strong aerially and he is good with direct free kicks as well,” said Mngqithi .

He added: “We can expect a game that will have a lot of aerial duels. Gavin’s teams are never easy to break down and one also foresees a possibility of them sitting in a little bit, they played with three centre-backs, two wing-backs and three central midfielders against Sekhukhune, so you can expect a game that will be a little bit frustrating, with a little bit of directness.”

Sundowns are gunning for an unprecedented fifth league title on the spin, and part of this success is based on the fact that their coaching staff and technical team go an extra mile in finding the finer details and sketching down the weaknesses of their opponents.

Mnagqithi also revealed that they might be forced to ring a few changes in East London.

“We profiled Chippa to see what threats they can pose to us and we had to find solutions to that, which will talk to our line-up. An issue that we have e injuries that have made our life a little bit difficult in terms of sections. We might have to change a team that has been doing well after two games… we would ideally not like to tamper with the team but as it is now, we are back to the stage where we have to bring back other players who we believe have the capacity to help the team do well.”