Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi is unhappy with two players who he feels let him down on Tuesday against Maniema Union in the Caf Champions League.
The defending Premier Soccer League champions came into the Group B game against the competition's newbies as favourites. However, the Masandawana faithful were left frustrated as their team failed to secure a win at home.
It was a poor response from the team after last weekend's Carling Knockout final's 2-1 loss against surprise package Magesi FC.
Manqoba insists some players failed to show effort against the Congolese outfit and believes failure to take chances came back to haunt the Brazilians.
I had an issue with two players – Mngqithi
“I think I would have issues with one or two players that I felt did not give enough, enough effort more than anything else,” the 53-year-old told the media.
“I think the rest of the players really, really pushed very hard. I was really happy with our last line, they performed very well, and our midfield. Tebza [Teboho Mokoena] dominated his space and he did very well against Kithambala, because we wanted him to always be the recipient of balls that he tries to receive because we knew about his limitations technically and I think in that space we did very well.
“I was very impressed with Erwin [Saavedra], he’s going to help us a lot. There were a lot of very good players. The players were maybe I had an issue with, I had question marks on the level of effort because that’s where I think most of the mistakes would emanate from,” Mngqithi continued.
“The rest of the squad played very well. Had we taken our chances, we would not be talking of anything in this match, to be honest.”
Mngqithi hopes to bounce back against Sekhukhune United in the Premier Soccer League outing this weekend.
