Team in mellow yellow has been sweet like a lemon and sour like a melon

● Were Mamelodi Sundowns a train, they would be a steam locomotive, one that’s slow on the takeoff as it pulls out of the station and gradually gathers pace as it progresses.

Once the Chloorkop-based train finds its stride and hits full speed, it steam-rolls all before it in devastating fashion in an advanced approach to the finish line.

That is a picture that often plays out when the 30-match Absa Premiership marathon commences.

Indeed, the second part of the season is when Sundowns really look sleek and are able to call on the experience and understanding of how to navigate the terrain to the league title.

Credence of that assertion is found in the fact that Pitso Mosimane’s men have finished as champions or runners-up for the past five years.

The tag of slow starters has been an evident trait with Downs upon the return to football following a five-month hiatus enforced by the coronavirus pandemic.

But things are different with the lockdown as there’s only a portion of the number of games of the league marathon left to finish.

It’s dog eat dog. Every three points is precious. Since winning their first match of the restart — beating Bidvest Wits to book a berth in the Nedbank Cup final — the team in mellow yellow has been sweet like a lemon and sour like a melon.

They’ve suffered an identity crisis of sorts and looked to have shed a massive amount of self-belief.

They were slick as eagles before lockdown and have returned as dull as dodos. The fluid interchange of passes that has been the signature of their game appears to have deserted them.

Traces of that trademark-play came back on Friday against Maritzburg United when they looked like value for money only for all their positive forward play to be undermined by the usually

The defence of the league title is slipping from Sundowns’ grip like sand through their fingers

dependable last line of defence.

Sundowns’ disastrous start to the sprint that is the remainder of the season has torn into shreds their stated desire to fulfil the Yellow Nation’s dream of La Decima (winning their 10th PSL title).

Draws with Orlando Pirates (0-0), Highlands Park (1-1), Maritzburg United (2-2) and a defeat to Cape Town City meant a return of three points from a possible 12 — a poor run dealing a devastating blow to their goal of reducing the gap between them and table-topping Amakhosi.

When Kaizer Chiefs fumbled, as was the case when they lost 3-1 to Bloemfontein Celtic and in the process handed the advantage back to Sundowns, the Brazilians flopped.

The defence of the league title is slipping from Sundowns’ grip like sand through their fingers.

By contrast, were Chiefs a train, they would be a Gautrain that bulleted its way off the starting blocks at a blistering pace at the start of the season.

The Naturena train has had mechanical faults of its own since restart, thanks to the tinkering of the German Tinkerman Ernst Middendorp.

Even Celtic winger Sifiso Ngobeni mocked Chiefs’ failure to mix and match their tactics by suggesting that they have no alternative to their trick of bombarding the opposition with aerial balls.

Middendorp won’t be persuaded otherwise. His style of play has brought him five games from winning the first league title in his coaching career and ending Chiefs’ five-year silverware famine, the longest in the club’s history.

Has he more tricks in his bag to pull it off? The result against Stellenbosch today will provide pointers to the answer.

Where does all this leave Orlando Pirates? In pre-season. Josef Zinnbauer arrived in December and hit the deck running with six wins and a draw in his first seven matches. Hopes of a title challenge have evaporated in this mini tournament during which Pirates pocketed a paltry three points from a possible nine. Those three draws lead one to the conclusion: just about anything is possible in Covid-19 soccer. Twitter: @bbkunplugged99