Sundowns have their work cut out Mokwena

It may seem to most soccer fans that Dstv Premiership defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns are on top of their game this season, but head coach Rulani Mokwena believes there is much work to do.

The hard-to-please Mokwena believes his squad is nowhere near where it should be.

The Brazilians have been dominant in the league for the past four seasons, having won the title in 2017/2018, 2018/2019, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.

And they are well-placed to push for a fifth consecutive league title this season to add to their overall 12 crowns.

Sundowns sit on top of the log with 28 points from 23 games and enjoy a five-point lead over second-placed Richards Bay.

“We are still very far from where we would like to be,” Mokwena said.

“We still feel we have so much work to do.

“We would like to have more possession and more passing, particularly in situations where there are good sequences of passes from one box to the other.

“Even our reaction speed in some moments is still not there yet.

“There is a lot of hard work that is going on behind the scenes in the entire club.

“The coaches are extremely hardworking and supportive, so it helps that you work with very good human beings.

“Our players are very honest and very good people and that is what I like as a coach.

“I don’t just like to work with extremely talented football players — and we know that this squad has extremely talented players — but they are also good human beings.

“Therefore, because of that and because of the expectations of the club, we are always looking for improvements, because that’s one of the most common things that champions, or the most successful people in life, possess.

“It’s a growth mindset and it doesn’t matter how good you feel you are or what level you believe you are at.

“If you do not want to try and improve then you are stagnated and you don’t improve.”

He said the club’s mentality was to be at the top, but also to continue to make progress.

“So that is the mentality we have and that is what we try to do at Sundowns.

“That is driven by the leadership and the type of management and the leadership like the Motsepe family.

“They are people of that mentality and therefore we have absolutely no other option but to follow suit,” Mokwena said.