Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi feels his side lost a bit of intensity after Thabiso Kutumela was forced off the field through injury early in the first half against Tshwane rivals SuperSport United.
The Brazilians were dealt a major blow before the half-hour mark after Kutumela was stretchered off after sustaining an injury and had to be replaced by Gaston Sirino in attack.
Sundowns, however, marched on to secure a hard-fought 1-0 victory over SuperSport at the Lucas Moripe Stadium this past Saturday with in-form striker Peter Shalulile scoring the only goal.
The win has Sundowns extending their lead at the top of the DStv Premiership standings to 12 points over second-placed Kaizer Chiefs, while SuperSport remain in seventh place with 22 points after 15 matches.
“It’s a game that started very well but, surprisingly, in the first three minutes they got a shot at goal from Onismor Bhasera which was a snap-shot in front of our defence, but from there we recollected ourselves, we came back stronger and managed to get a goal. After that, we tried to pile on the intensity a little bit. We were unfortunate to lose Thabiso Kutumela as he was very influential in our high press.
“From there we started to give a little bit more space and time to Jamie Webber, who has got a very good diagonal ball, and Kegan Johannes, who played as a right center back, was very instrumental in finding the left back – which made our lives a little bit difficult, because if Webber finds the right back easily and Johannes finds the left back easily, it now becomes a game where you have to try deal with them in wide channels.
“[Thamsanqa] Gabuza is always a factor with any balls that are put into the box, and in the later stages of the game they brought on Luke Fleurs. Then we knew that it was not going to be easy for us and that’s why we brought in Mothobi [Mvala] to come and assist us a little bit, which I think he brought a lot of stability on our midfield. We pushed [Sphelele] Mkhulise a little bit to go press with Peter [Shalulile] because after losing Kutumela we lost a bit of intensity in our high press and in our counter-presses.”
He added: “The loss of Kutumela was a big one for us because he was not only important in our offensive play, but in our defensive strategy to try and make sure that their center backs are not given much space and time to be able to deliver and also with a negative press on Webber, who was also very influential from a deep line position, that loss was big.
“But, it was also good to see what we can get from Gaston, Mshishi and Neo [Maema] at the same time on the pitch. Defensively we were a little bit open, but offensively we created some very good moments and nice passing moments which should’ve resulted in goals [especially] for Mshishi and Peter, very unfortunate to not have scored in those moments.”