Michaelson Ntokozo Gumede

By Ntokozo Gumede

Journalist


Sundowns can afford to take foot off the pedal, sledges Mokwena

'You can forgive them for two games if they don’t play well', said the Sundowns gaffer.


Rhulani Mokwena feels that his Mamelodi Sundowns side can afford to take their foot off the pedal, given their consistency over the past few seasons where they have claimed the domestic league in the last four seasons.

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Be that as it may, Mokwena and his coaching partners are duty bound, he insists, to deliver good performance after good performance which subsequently puts silverware in their trophy cabinet at Chloorkop.

“If there is one team that has brought itself the right to be complacent and can be forgiven for being complacent, it is Sundowns. This team does not get enough from praises and recognition for the work they have done,” said the Sundowns mentor.

“If you have lost one game over two seasons and the last loss was against Al-Ahly. We are winning games and playing at such high intensity, they fight hard to win football matches. You can forgive them for two games if they don’t play well,” Mokwena added.

Sundowns just hit the 40-point mark in the DStv Premiership after beating Baroka FC 2-1 on Tuesday evening in Pretoria and they will look to continue their dominance when they meet Orlando Pirates this Friday at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium.

“We will go and play to win, like in any other game. We will host Pirates with the drive to try and dominate and you can be rest assured that there will be no level of complacency because the follow up consequences of winning football matches is winning trophies, which is what we are in the business of doing,” Mokwena said.

He added: “This institution is about winning every single game but to do that you need to make sure that you are at the right form and right level of performance. We spoke about what type of team we want to be at the beginning of the season and already you can see that we are a team that not a lot of people like to play against. We have a very awkward way of playing.”  

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