Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena was happy with his side’s performance in the win over rivals Orlando Pirates.
This comes after the defending champions edged the Buccaneers at a packed Orlando Stadium on Saturday, with Cassius Mailula scoring the winning goal for Sundowns in the first half of the match
“[It was] A very difficult game, two good sides, very dominant from Pirates I thought. But I also thought we had better chances also. We played the game the way a big game is supposed to be played. I was pleasantly surprised by how well we defended, normally we have to have the ball to defend but today we defended very, very well, there were no big chances in open play and we showed that we can play difficult games and respond to the situation. I have nothing but incredible respect and appreciation for this group of players. If I were to rate it out of 10, not the performance as a whole, I would give it a 15/10,” says Mokwena.
“We played a very good side, this could’ve easily been a Champions League away match. When we struggled in the past to keep clean sheet against very good sides, today we didn’t give away too many chances to Pirates except on set pieces and for sure they had some very good situations on set pieces and they played for that and I thought we had the better chances even though they had the better share of the ball and they were very dominant in possession, but I thought we defended very, very well today,” he added.
The defending Champions called Bafana Bafana international goalie Ronwen Williams back into the squad, including Teboho Mokwena and Themba Zwane who did not feature in the previous encounter due to suspension. Mokwena highlighted the importance of playing different players during this time as they are faced with a heavy fixture schedule.
“We are the only team that has played eight games in January and that called for rotation, that called for not really to refresh the team but to give everyone in the team an opportunity to play because we’ve got a big squad and the only way to keep everyone happy is to try to give minutes to everybody and they’ve done exceptionally well
“The win is a good win, we still remain extremely humble even in victory. Don’t watch the goal, watch the contribution throughout the 90 minutes [there’s still] so much to improve. The one action on the transition the decision making let him down, [he is] still very young and still so much coaching to be done. Offensive players have to improve by experiencing these situations and getting better, but [I am] very proud of him, very proud of the team [though] we still have a lot of work to do to improve.”
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