Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Manqoba Mngqithi was left impressed with his opponents’ efforts and revealed which of Nasreddine Nabi’s tactics caught him off guard.
Chiefs suffered their first defeat of the season as the defending champions Sundowns maintained their winning ways in a highly tactical encounter in front of a sold-out crowd at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
The Soweto giants opened the scoring within the first 10 minutes, pretty much against the run of play, through Ranga Chivaviro, who showed the necessary aggression and balance to see off a Mosa Lebusa challenge before slotting home past Ronwen Williams.
Sundowns, though, launched an onslaught that resulted in two first-half goals, through Lucas Ribeiro Costa and Iqraam Rayners.
While the match itself had plenty of intense moments that included a scuffle between Mngqithi and Chiefs defender Inacio Miguel, The Brazilians coach had plenty of praise for an Amakhosi side that had been undefeated prior to the fixture.
“To be honest, I think the team [Chiefs] looks very good,” Mngqithi said in his post-match press conference.
“It looks refreshed, it looks energized, and the structure that coach Nabi is playing with is very potent.
“It’s very difficult for teams to really understand because he has that front three that is ‘cheating’ and he’s got the four in the midfield, with the two central pivots, and uses [Wandile] Duba on one side and he uses the front three up there.
“[Bradley] Cross would push a little bit more, and they remain with the last three, which is why we wanted Tashreeq [Matthews] to be outside [Reeve] Frosler.
“Initially, we thought Duba would be on that side, so we wanted to make sure that we stretch Frosler a little bit because Cross was never supposed to be there, based on our analysis, and they changed because they wanted to take care of Thapelo [Morena], which I think helped to a certain extent.
“But I don’t think it helped that much,” he continued.
Mngqithi went on to give the Glamour Boys credit for their rejuvenation and gave them a key piece of advice as they enter a new chapter pregnant with hope.
“But the truth is, it’s refreshing to see a Kaizer Chiefs team that plays like this.
“They must look to try and try to dominate matches more because we cannot as big teams always rely on good rest-attack and counter-attacks. We must also try to really put our foot forward.
“But I’m very happy with the progress the coach has made in such a short space of time,” he said.
With the win, Sundowns maintain top spot in the standings, while Chiefs slip down to sixth.
Both teams will return to action towards the end of October.
