Why Downs are up there
Mamelodi Sundowns once again left the rest trailing in their wake this season, as they stormed to the Absa Premiership title with a game to spare. It was a third title in the league crown in five seasons for Pitso Mosimane’s Masandawana and Phakaaathi’s Michaelson Gumede takes a look at the five main reasons for this season’s triumph.
The Percy Tau factor
One often struggles to find the words to describe the talent that Percy Tau is. Yes, there is no “I” in the word team, but it would be almost blasphemous to talk about Sundowns’ league triumph without singling out Tau. Former Liverpool striker El Hadji Diouf has likened the 23-year-old to Egypt and Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah. And in all truth, Tau has been equivalent to Sundowns to what Salah has been for the Reds this season. Tau and his 13 goals in all competitions (11 in the league) have been the driving force for Masandawana. He embraced the role of being the main man up front from the start as Downs have resorted to playing without a target man, in the absence of a traditional No.9. If he was not scoring, he was making sure that his team-mates bang them in as Tau has delivered the final pass on 13 occasions this campaign. Smart moves in the market
Sundowns have moved away from recruiting players for the sake of it. This season’s signings defined the Brazilians’ maturity in the transfer market. First came Oupa Manyisa at the start of the season at the back of Teko Modise’s departure. It was a like-for-like signing as the former Orlando Pirates skipper has vast experience in Africa. When he was recruited to Chloorkop, Sundowns knew that al- though age may slowly be running away from him, they could count on his experience on the continent and durability as Downs have a heavy schedule including the Caf Champions League. In January, Gaston Sirino came and the little maestro fitted like a glove in Sundowns’s model of football. His inclusion was to prepare for the departure of Khama Billiat and possibly Tau. Squad management
One thing that a coach doesn’t want is to have an unhappy camp, which often leads to division. The unhappy players are not those who are playing, but those who are constantly on the bench and in the grand stands. Mosimane has done a great job in terms of managing his players. Player rotation has been one of Mosimane’s key strategies to success this season. There was a point where an on-form Themba Zwane would be left on the bench, and Mosimane would say the reason for that would be to trigger the hunger in him and the rest of the team. Motjeka Madisha, Tiyani Mabunda, Sibusiso Vilakazi, and captain Hlompho Kekana were all at some point reduced to spectators, and when they returned to action, they looked like new signings. Prioritising
Out of all the 16 coaches in the division, Mosimane was the only brave one who did not shy away from expressing his desire to win the league. He proclaimed it from the first kick-off of the campaign that he wants to extend Downs’ record to eight titles in the PSL era. From that point on, it was always clear that there was nothing else on the domestic front that Masandawana would trade the league for. In his own words: “we wanted it, we always said that we wanted it and we got it.” This was evident in the teams Sundowns would field in the domestic cups as opposed to the league. Stubborn defence
Only Kaizer Chiefs have so far conceded fewer goals in the league than Sundowns this season. However, credit needs to be given to their backline for remaining resolute in front of goalkeeper Denis Onyango, who has been in between the sticks for most part of the season. Mosimane forged out different combinations at the heart of his defence, alternating the responsibility between Ricardo Nascimento, Madisha, Wayne Arendse and Bangaly Soumahoro. They have all stepped up to the plate whenever their name was called.