Pitso unhappy despite victory
Michaelson Gumede
Despite opening the 2019/20 Caf Champions League with a 3-0 win and shooting straight to the top of the group standings, Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane sounded like he was not pleased with how his team played against Petro de Luanda on Saturday night at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Mosimane wanted his team to score more goals instead of playing pretty football.
“The resistance was not that big but they have got a good attack, you can see that they can do something in Angola so don’t be deceived by this, it can be a different story,” said Mosimane.
“I am little bit unhappy with my team in the final third because when they realised that we could play freely, we got stuck (rather) than being shrewd and really taking the game as early as possible with a good lead. I think with the resistance that they had, we should have scored two (more) goals to be honest.
“I was telling them at half time that when they played Cote d’Or, the resistance was not that strong either but we were decisive in the final third. We did a lot of good things unlike in this game. They wanted to make sure that the opposition does not score because sometimes you can defend with the ball by denying them the ball,” he added.
“I would have opted for a little bit more aggression. They were enjoying themselves, Gaston was dropping too deep to come and collect from the midfield but you cannot go and collect the ball from the midfield when Rivaldo Coetzee is free with the ball. We did not struggle to bring the ball up but we struggled to make the decision on the final third.”
Mosimane lauded the standards of the Absa Premiership, ranking in the top four leagues in the continent.
“I have always said don’t undermine the PSL, we played AmaZulu and we did not find this flow. The PSL is stronger in terms of defensive organisation, it is not easy and we sweat to go through hence there are not too many goals. The PSL is stronger than the Angolan league. I think we are among the top four (on the continent).”