On Sundowns’ league-winning chances On what Pitso need to do Pitso needs to read the signs
Mamelodi Sundowns are in a very good position to win the league. They have two games in hand, before their game against Cape Town City on Wednesday, and only trail log leaders Bidvest Wits by two points. The good thing is that they are picking up points, even if it’s just one point here and there. Every point is very important at this stage of the season, especially when you’re challenging for the title. It is within touching distance. I will put my head on the block for this one… Sundowns will win it!
On letting chance to go top slide
Had Sundowns won against Bidvest Wits, they were going to go to tonight’s game against City top of log, but they let it slide. Against Wits, I don’t know… I got the sense that Sundowns were just playing for a point. They had patches in the game where I could see that they could hurt Wits, but seemingly they were too cautious in their approach. The game could have given them a good morale boost had they gone for it, but again, they were a man down in the second half. Maybe they said, “Ok, we have a point here, so instead of losing all three points, let us hold on to the point that we have”, which was not bad considering the circumstances they were faced with on the day.
On Arendse’s red card against Wits
Wayne Arendse took one for the team there. He made sure that Sundowns lose him than lose all three points. That showed the experience that the man has because he could have easily surrendered there, but no, not Wayne. He decided that he was going to take one for the team. It paid off because the score line remained 1-1 until the end of the match. There wasn’t much he could have done other than what he did and hope that he gets away with it, which he unfortu- nately didn’t. That point that he was protecting will go a long way in the team’s title hopes. The title is now for Sundowns to lose. They have two games in hand and they are playing well, even though there are signs of fatigue in most players. Once those signs start showing, then it is a worry.
On the upcoming fixtures
The upcoming fixtures for Sundowns will require character from the team. There are only going to be difficult games now left, right and centre. That is why they had to try and win the game against Wits so that, coming to tonight’s game against City, they would be leading already. There’s another challenge on the weekend against Bloemfontein Celtic. The team needs to be on their toes when they face Celtic because that has been a hoodoo team for Sundowns in years gone by. It is not always easy for Sundowns to beat Celtic, as they always know how to frustrate Sundowns. I remember when they beat Sundowns 5-0 with only three games remaining in the league, and Kaizer Chiefs ended up winning the league – that was in the 2014/15 season. Pitso Mosimane will have to play his cards right for that one. After that one, it’s Cape Town City again, the team that is determined to have a say in where the title will go. They play Sundowns twice in the crucial stage of the season and might have a say in the destination of the title. There’s also Lobi Stars in the CAF Champions League, who will bring a different challenge.
I think he needs to rotate the squad. That is the only way he can make sure that he wins the league. Sundowns have a very big squad and a lot of talent in the team. Players like Andile Jali and Oupa Manyisa, to mention just two, are quality. They have seen it all and I think Pitso has to make sure that when he plays back-to-back games like these - and surely it’s going to be like this now until the end of the season - he needs to get these players ready and the only way to do that would be to rotate the squad. Rotation doesn’t mean he must change the entire team, but rather change maybe three or four players. By doing that, he will be helping players like Hlompho Kekana and Tiyani Mabunda to get a breather. These guys have been doing it for Pitso since 2015 just before they won the CAF Champions League and the Absa Premiership in 2016. Surely fatigue has caught up with them now and Sundowns do not lack quality in their positions. They have quality on the fringes that can easily win the league on their own. Pitso just needs to read the signs and heed the call if he wants to win the league and conquer Africa again. When a player is fatigued, it becomes a case of the mind wanting to do it, but the body cannot do it anymore. He must just make that call and then he can easily conquer Africa and win the Absa Premiership.
On Toni Silva’s letter to Pitso
The letter was meant for the coach and he hasn’t formally responded to it, but rather just made remarks related to it via post-match interviews. I would like to hear Pitso have his say on the letter. It is a very sensitive issue and my only worry is that it might affect the entire team. It is possible that it already did because players talk all the time amongst each other and I think what Silva said might be something that they’d been talking about all along. Look at what George Lebese said on twitter – it shows that a lot of these players might have been talking about it, but I hope not, for the team’s sake. That can be very dangerous for him (Pitso).