Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi is delighted that his team are now getting the respect they deserve after ‘losing’ it early in the season.
Sundowns struggled to get started as they lost back-to-back games in the MTN8 semi-final against Stellenbosch, having needed an own goal to beat Polokwane City in the last eight.
That saw questions raised over the preparedness of the team for the new season while Mngqithi’s credentials were also put in focus after replacing Rulani Mokwena in the Sundowns’ hot seat.
However, they responded in fine style by winning seven straight matches across all competitions with four of them witnessing them score four or more goals.
‘Disrespect’ for Sundowns is over
They have also won five of their last eight with a shock 1-0 loss away to Polokwane City and 2-1 Carling Knockout final defeat to Magesi FC spoiling their good record but after picking apart a defensive Sekhukhune United last Saturday to record a 3-0 victory, the Sundowns coach now feels the disrespect is over and the fear is back.
”I told the team at that time [when they were struggling], there will be a stage where now you are respected – you will understand how difficult it is to win a football match, because when people start to respect you then they adopt strategies of trying to stop bleeding instead of trying to beat you,” Mngqithi said as per SABC.
“They try to make sure that they minimise the spaces behind them, and they try to minimise the goal attempts. And when they do that, it becomes very difficult and I am trying to make my team understand we are preparing for that phase.
Will the Brazilians sustain the fear factor?
“But when they are still giving us a chance because they disrespect us, we will have to punish them. I was hoping that would last for longer, because I enjoy being disrespected sometimes.”
The Sundowns coach says teams were playing an open game against them early in the season, hoping to capitalise from their poor start to the campaign, but after the battering witnessed so far, they are now opting to ‘park the bus’ for fear of being punished.
”We are in that phase now where everybody says I must not concede five, if I concede one or two, it's better. The respect is coming out of what these boys have done. And when you say they are not playing well, really I wonder what else you should be asking for, because what we should be asking ourselves is that; why can't we force scoring goals even against teams that have a low block?” he went on.
“In the match against Magesi, we got plus 20 shots at goal but out of the 20, we could not get one more goal. Then you go to the game against Maniema [Union], I think we had about 17 shots at goals, and out of the 17, we couldn't score one goal, and that is why we were pushing to try and get more clinical and I think they responded well in that regard, though I still maintain that we could have score far more than what we have scored.”
Sundowns are now top of the table, level on 21 points with Orlando Pirates, but with a superior goal difference, and have a tough away trip to Morocco to face AS FAR in the CAF Champions League on Saturday December 7.
