Sometimes he is misunderstood

Katlego Mphela – Former Sundowns striker

“I’ve known Pitso for quite some time. He is the one who brought me from France to SuperSport. The first time I met him, he was a young coach and you could see that he was ambitious. He was always hands-on and he wants players to do their homework and he wants players to concentrate in training. He plans and sometimes he predicts things and you’d be like, ‘Wow, it happened!’ I remember when we (Bafana Bafana) beat Egypt, he told us a story of how, when he was an assistant to Carlos Alberto Parreira, he met these Egyptian guys in an elevator. So, these guys did not even bother to greet him. They didn’t know he was the assistant coach of the national team. So Pitso knew that one day he would be the coach of the national team and, from then on, he wanted to beat Egypt. And he did it! He has a lot of stories and some of the stories are amazing. When I worked with him in the national team, he was still the same guy who worked hard. Unfortunately, it did not work out. He didn’t have a bad record, but maybe it’s just that we didn’t win games we were supposed to win. He didn’t lose many games, so I don’t think he had a fair chance with the national team. With Sundowns, immediately when he came, you could see how obsessed he was with African football. He wanted the Champions League. He is ambitious, straight-forward, he is hands-on and he is like a father-figure to his players. Players like (Andile) Jali will tell you. He was a bit off the rails and now he is back and he is playing his best football. Pitso leads by example and he comes to training prepared with all these books. Even Sundowns players can tell you that they spend more of their time in the boardroom than on the pitch, because he analyses opponents. You have to do your work as a player as well. You get your videos and you analyse the opponents. That’s how they win games and everyone has to contribute. He can call you and say, ‘Watch this game on this channel’. Pitso is winning titles because he is a winner. That winning mentality rubs off on the players and they know that when you work for anything, you cannot give anything less than 100 percent. You have to be on top of your game. I think sometimes he is misunderstood by people who misinterpret him. I think he deserves everything that comes his way in terms of success.”

He is a good manager of players

Lebohang Mokoena – Former Sundowns midfielder

“I think it first starts with the respect he has to get from the players. When I was there, he got the respect and we got the understanding of his philosophy and the way he wanted the team to play. He is a man whose presence is always felt and I think he also comes with experience from the late Thomas Madigage, when they worked together during their time at SuperSport. He is one person who is really dedicated to his work and he always adapts to the modern game. He has European experience in terms of his coaching courses and how players are supposed to be managed. He is a good manager of players. He does well in that regard and plays a big role in grooming players. When he came in (in 2012), we responded well as players. He brought in a few players, a lot of youth. When you look at the squad that time, we were already getting older. You had your Surprise Moriri, Anthony Laffor and he tried to blend the youth in, and it worked out well. It was difficult for him to pick a starting line-up because we all wanted to play. Playing for Sundowns means you are a special player, so you deserve to play. So, it becomes difficult to keep that balance and keep the players happy. It’s quite a tough job, but he has done well in managing the team. He is one coach that, if he has a starting XI, he is not going to change it a lot. It’s more about players having to come in and adapt to what the current team is doing. When you coach at Sundowns, you need to be a winner and he was quite aware of that when he came to Sundowns. The team had not been winning things and he put a challenge on himself to turn things around and he has achieved that at the club. His growth from SuperSport has shown that he has come a long way and his principles have put him where he is today.”