Mngqithi Happy But Feels Downs Could Have Done Better

While Mamelodi Sundowns co-Head Coach Manqoba Mngqithi was pleased overall with the 3-0 win over Al Merrikh on Saturday, he feels they could have wrapped up the game in the first half with more incisiveness.

Sundowns confirmed their place at the top of Group A in the CAF Champions League with the victory, finishing the group unbeaten and with an impressive 16 point haul.

Mngqithi though said he was not happy at half-time, as he felt the team weren’t creating enough opportunities.

“First half, I was not very happy, I don’t want to lie,” Mngqithi said in the post match press conference.

“We had too much possession but we were not incisive enough. We were not looking for possibilities to create more scoring opportunities, had a big fight with Modiba, had a big fight with Neo, Kapinga also, and Hash, they were playing too many back passes, even when they had found themselves in very good attacking positions.

“But they just seemed content with the number of passes they would have in the game without looking at the quality in terms of the number of chances created, shots at goals, box entries and all that, because that is very important to us.

“And when we looked at the stats at halftime, we were five kilometers below what we normally give. And we were very unhappy with that, because we would have loved a more incisive performance, with a lot of shots at goals, a mentality to win the game, and also a mentality to play proper attacking football when needs be, because there was no reason and no need for us to start concentrating on possession when the score line was still 1-0 because anything could have happened.

“But the second half was much better, more incisive, more willingness to to break the lines, more willingness to look for the ball behind the defence, instead of always looking for at feet. And that was encouraging.

“But again, we were over-anxious in some instances, there are many attacks where we did very well from build up to the consolidation phase, but when we got into the attacking third, we lost possession too easily.

“Because maybe one touch, at times we are rushing too much, but it was a much better performance second half. No wonder we managed to score the goal scored.

“But I still believe with the work that the coaches are doing and these players are giving in training, we could do better, We’ve got the capacity to score more goals in matches like this, we do have the capacity to kill the game a little bit earlier, so that it does not become an anxious contest for probably 60,70 minutes, when you could have made sure that halftime you’re two three nil up, then already the message is clear that you are taking this game away.

“But overall, very exciting performance second half. And congratulations to the boys. Congratulations to the technical team, to the management of the club, the support staff and everybody else involved in the club for making sure that the team books its place and consolidates its place into the quarterfinals.”