Sundowns coach Mokwena wary of ‘better organised’ Chippa
"We are prepared to play well and try to influence the match," says Mokwena.
Rhulani Mokwena, head coach of Mamelodi Sundowns. Picture: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
The days of skop ‘n donner football at Chippa United are a thing of the past, at least according to the observations of Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Rhulani Mokwena.
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The Downs mentor has noticed a change in the Chilli Boys’ style of play as the two sides resume their DStv Premiership in the capital city on Monday.
“I need to commend the work that is done by Kurt Lentjies, he has done well. Their play has improved, they build from the back very well and they look a lot more composed on the ball and they find possibilities to advance. It is a team that looks like they have gone to another level where they don’t just kick the ball, they go forward and they have their patterns of play,” said Mokwena.
“They look better organised and it should be an interesting game for us because it means we are going to have to work very hard to get the ball because we need the ball to be able to put our qualities on the pitch. If they have it as much as they had it against Tuks, Maritzburg and Sekhukhune, we see that they will give us a lot of problems.
“We have to manage their build-up play that looks like it has improved and causes problems. We are prepared to play well and try to influence the match in a direction that will give us the best possibilities to win the match,” he added.
Inasmuch as Mokwena gives credit to Lentjies for transforming the side sitting on the 12th spot in the log, he believes that much of the improvements are down to the work of Lentjies’ predecessor, Gavin Hunt.
“The influence of Gavin cannot be taken away because if you look at their last game against Tuks, they were unfortunate to concede the two goals but if you look at their previous games, they had a very clear style of play against Sekhukhune United and Maritzburg United. There is a lot of aggression in the duals and they commit a lot of fouls and hopefully with our match we get very strong officials because we can see how they break down the play of the opposition.”
