Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi says it’s now a natural expectation to play against defensive units in the Premier Soccer League.
Sundowns were made to sweat for their three points in the DStv Premiership fixture against Chippa United in Gqeberha on Wednesday night.
The narrow 1-0 win was courtesy of a late Peter Shalulile strike, which took the Brazilians top of the table on goal difference after eight rounds of fixtures.
By his projection, Mngqithi says Downs will only come up against teams willing to play an open game in the latter stages of the CAF Champions League.
“Yes, it’s what we always anticipate, that we are going to have more than 80 percent of matches played with a very low block, and this is what has been happening throughout the seasons,” he said after the match.
“Sometimes even some of the big teams resort to this strategy against us and we are always preparing our team for that, and we do create the opportunities we want because our wish is always to break the game down very early, which I think is what happened against Kaizer Chiefs, so then they must come out [of the low block to attack].
“When you are not scoring, the game looks like it’s very difficult. We had 80 percent ball possession today, or more. In the final third, I think we had more than 90 percent possession, which is very good.
“The number of passes, shots at goals, everything suggested we should have scored more but, when you are not scoring it looks like what the opposition is doing is very good, yet the defensive structure was not at its best – the chance Tebza got in the first half could have easily decided the match from the beginning because then things open up.
“But this is what we know for a fact that we will face throughout the season, it will only change maybe from the quarterfinals of the Champions League, but we know this is what we have to expect.”
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