Staff Reporter.
Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi admits his side were below par as they suffered a first DStv Premiership defeat of the season in a 1-0 loss to AmaZulu in Durban on Monday evening.
A goal in the second half from Augustine Mulenga settled the contest as Mngqithi suggests fatigue finally caught up with his side after a hectic run of fixtures that saw them play six games in 17 days.
The loss of Rivaldo Coetzee to injury early on did not help, but Mngqithi says his team did not perform with their usual efficiency as their 25-game unbeaten run in the DStv Premiership came to an end.
“I think it’s one of those games where I was never really impressed with our play, I don’t think we were incisive enough. I don’t think we forced the opponent onto their back foot a lot,” Mngqithi said.
“Many instances in the first half where we get a nice diagonal half space, but we lose the possession instead of progressing our attack. The truth of the matter is we were not at our sharpest point, maybe the previous game took a lot from us and losing Rivaldo very early in the match had a big impact on our performance.
“They [AmaZulu] put up a fight. We tried but we were not incisive enough, at times not patient enough, at times we played too many one-touches and ended up losing possession in wrong areas.
“Our freshness in terms of counter-pressing and all that was not at its best. Congratulations to AmaZulu, they gave it a fight, they gave their all into the game, they wanted it.”
Mngqithi admits the pressure of keeping up their unbeaten run, as they chased the record of 31 games set by Kaizer Chiefs in 2005 was perhaps a distraction for the team.
“We knew, the most unfortunate part when you’ve got this run of not having lost a match, you’re a little bit edgy, you always say you want to give it your best shot, you look at the number of games we’ve played in the last two weeks, you realise the load has been too much.”
Sundowns have one more game to go in 2021 as they host Marumo Gallants on Thursday.