‘People mustn’t look at him and say because he’s on the right he will be like Lucas Ribeiro,’ said Cardoso.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has thrown his support behind striker Arthur Sales, who continues to divide opinion among supporters more than a year after his arrival in South Africa. The tall Brazilian endured a slow start in the Betway Premiership last season after joining the Chloorkop-based side.
Sales improvement
He has shown improvement in the new campaign, registering a goal and an assist in his first three matches across all competitions. Still, sections of the Sundowns fan base remain unconvinced, and following Tuesday night’s 2-0 win over AmaZulu, Cardoso leapt to the defence of the 23-year-old.
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‘People judge him too much’
“There’s a lot of misunderstanding towards Arthur and people judge him too much. People mustn’t look at him and say because he’s on the right he will be like Lucas Ribeiro,” Cardoso said.
“Each player has their own characteristics. Arthur is a very good player who arrived in South Africa and didn’t get the attention and credit he deserved. I think people are starting to gradually understand him if you look at his numbers and the impact he made. He was always giving goals and assists, I think Arthur was already important last season.
“He’s a little underrated in terms of what he can really do. We saw a fantastic second half from him against AmaZulu. If he had been more selfish, he could have scored more than one goal. He scores goals very easily and will continue to do so this season like Peter and Iqraam Rayners, because he’s clever and will only get better.”
Growing discontent
Ahead of Saturday’s MTN8 semifinal first leg away to Orlando Pirates at Orlando Stadium, Cardoso also addressed growing discontent among the Masandawana faithful over the team’s unconvincing displays so far this campaign. Sundowns have been far from their fluent best despite two wins in three matches and they have drawn criticism from their notoriously hard-to-please supporters.
“I was also disappointed because we are at a club that wants to win all matches, so being disappointed with a draw is normal (Sundowns drew their first Premiership match of the season 1-1 with Chippa United). If you went into our change room after the game, you’d have seen how people looked like someone had just died,” Cardoso explained.
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“So it’s normal and you accept that people are not happy. Being unhappy with the result is one thing, but being unhappy with people who work hard every day to produce good results is another, and I didn’t feel that. Even after the 2-0 win over AmaZulu, players were urging each other to ‘kill off games’ to make life easier going forward, and it’s fantastic to have that kind of atmosphere.”