Manqoba Not Worried About Title Defence

Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has insisted he is not worried about their title defence despite losing their second game of the season already. 

Masandawana lost 2-1 to SuperSport Unite in the Tshwane derby at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Friday evening. It was Matsatsantsa’s first home win over their city rivals in nine years, as Gavin Hunt’s side managed to get their second win of the season which moves them to sixth position and eight points on the log.

Downs, meanwhile, remained on 10 points but Mngqithi insisted he is not too worried and it’s too early to panic despite their two defeats in the 2022/23 campaign already.

“I don’t think so much has happened, that should suggest that we off the rales or the title is gonna be very difficult,” he said after the match.

“It is always difficult. It is always difficult to play against SuperSport, it is always difficult to fight for the championship in South Africa. It looks like it’s easy in the end but it’s never easy.

“Who says we are entitled to win a game against SuperSport? Who says we are entitled to win a game against TS Galaxy or Sekhukhune? It’s the same SuperSport that will still beat some of the teams we are competing with.

“So that’s the interesting part of this marathon. If you just keep your eye on the price and you take care of the process you’re not far away, in terms of our cycle we fell off in terms of our number of points but we still got ten points in five matches.

“We still have 12 points to fight for in this cycle. So for me, it’s not a train smash but it’s warning signs. It’s very good when these warning signs come early in the season so that you’re not complacent, you keep your feet on the ground, you stay humble and understand that you are not entitled to get the result.”

Mngqithi also insisted that it was a warning shot at the right time of the campaign.

“For us, we understand that probably it’s good that it’s happening so early in the season, that we must be a little bit more focused because we will get punished if we are not aware. But otherwise I don’t think it’s already a stage for people to start panicking. It is too early for that,” he added.

“On average, we’ve done very well in terms of the points that we’ve collected compared to the rest and we are in the position that we are in because we have done fairly well, we have not done the best that we can do but we believe we can do better.

“But the good thing is that all these signs must come early so that we can stay humble and respect and we don’t dwell much on previous results because there was that element in the first half of putting our foot off the paddles sometimes which we could’ve continuously kept the stove hot and make it difficult for SuperSport because we created a lot of chances and they were dog-tired in the end but we scored a little bit too late to be able to salvage something out of this game.

Hunt – We Got Our Rewards