Criticism often harsh, but it fuels Sundowns, says coach Mokwena
Despite ruling the roost in the DStv Premiership for the past few seasons, Mamelodi Sundowns players are not immune to stinging criticism from supporters.
Downs bounced back from three successive league draws with a 1-0 win against Richards Bay at Loftus in Pretoria on Tuesday.
This followed Saturday night’s spectacular 4-1 away demolition of Algeria’s CR Belouizdad in the first leg of the Brazilians’ Caf Champions League quarterfinal tie in Algiers.
Individual players are often targeted for mistakes and the team recently came under fire from supporters after their Nedbank Cup quarterfinal loss to Stellenbosch FC.
“Without criticism we can never be better — we use the energy, and the more criticism the better,” Downs coach Rulani Mokwena said.
“We use that energy to step up and improve because we can’t rest on our laurels and think we are a finished product.
“We are far from reaching our potential as a team and we have to work much harder every day to be a better side.”
Sundowns won the league with seven rounds of matches to spare and Mokwena said that given such a statistic, sometimes criticism against his players was harsh.
“When we produce the results people look and say, ‘How can we critique, where are we going to criticise the performance?’
“You can’t always play well, similarly, you can’t always win, but we chase playing well all the time and that doesn’t exist, but we still chase it.
“We chase winning every game — it doesn’t exist, but we still chase it.
“We put ourselves where either way we are going to be criticised and sometimes it is harsh. It is harsher than what you feel you deserve because you are giving so much, the players are giving so much, the football club is giving so much to try to win and to try to be better every single match.”
Sundowns have three matches remaining and can still break the record of 71 points in the 16-team league.
Mokwena said the run-in to the end would not be easy.
“We have to try to win every game, that’s the thing now.
“It is difficult times for us because every game is a game of consequence.
“We are playing against opposition where everyone is fighting for something.
“They are playing either to fight relegation, to get into the top eight or to finish second.
“Teams we are playing in the Champions League are fighting to win the tournament, so every game is a game of consequence.
“This means we have to be at our best, every training session and match we have to fight and be able to solve football problems. Sometimes we are a bit tired.
“I watched Manchester City against Bayern Munich and City, they were tired in the last 15 minutes, but they know they can trust each other in difficult moments.
“It is not easy, there is intense pressure everywhere with the big clubs ... trying to play with pressure, and that’s where we are.
“We have a different programme — Richards Bay last played against Maritzburg [United] on Friday.
“They had an extra day than us, they travelled from Durban to Joburg.
“We travelled 20 hours from Algiers to Cairo and then SA.
“[But] no-one has time to listen to our excuses — we go into a space where we have to produce the results. ”—