Shalulile was key, Nassir potential is scary

After failing to score in the team’s first two matches, Shalulile was back to his best at Loftus Versfeld Stadium last weekend. The Namibian international seems to be on penalty duties this season having scored 23 goals last season from open play – he could break all sorts of records with spot-kicks thrown into the equation as bonus this term. This was his first league penalty in two-and-a-half seasons, his first in Sundowns colours and only his fourth ever penalty in the topflight in South Africa.

The stats show that Sundowns only had seven shots in the match and scored from all four shots on target. They also netted four times from just 1.95 Expected

Goals and that sort of ruthlessness has been a hallmark of the last 12 months. Not only was it Shalulile’s pressing that led Kwinika to make a panicked pass for the first goal, he also dispossessed Maart for the second goal and drew the penalty. It was his turn and switch of play that led

to the third goal. He burst forward onto a Nassir pass to get a shot away on another counter-attack and was denied by a good Bvuma smother late on from another Nassir pass in the area.

This is all aside from the incredible job he did tracking back on Frosler and playing as a genuine winger in the final 30 minutes. With the early link-up between him and very, very exciting new signing Nassir, the PSL should beware, as should teams in CAF Champions League action. Rhulani Mokwena described Nassir as a ‘ceiling raiser’ – a player who comes into a team seemingly

at their peak (ceiling) and makes them even better. That’s a scary thought.