Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane claims his side were ‘cheating’ in the final stages of their victory over Chippa United over the weekend.
The Brazilians managed to secure all three points after cruising to a comfortable 3-0 victory over the Chili Boys at Loftus Versfeld Stadium through goals from Nicholus Lukhubeni, Themba Zwane and Sibusiso Vilakazi.
The win moves Sundowns up to third place in the Absa Premiership standings with 38 points from 19 games, trailing log-leaders Kaizer Chiefs by seven points.
‘Today’s performance we were a little bit observing the opponent more than to put out our own play, because [Ruzaigh] Gamildien has not been playing, he [Norman Mapeza] put him on as a sub [substitute] against [Orlando] Pirates and started him in the Nedbank Cup and he scored a beautiful goal,’ Mosimane said on SuperSport TV after the match.
‘But now the way they played I think against Pirates or SuperSport [United], they played lop-sided, so they don’t have a left winger, they have three midfielders and then they push Gamildien over there and they don’t have the left winger.
‘It’s working for us because we had to play Lebohang Maboe when we defend to come more inside, next to “AJ” [Andile Jali] and [Hlompho] Kekana and then he causes [Tercious] Malepe to go out as a left back but more aggressive as a winger.
‘It’s very difficult for us to defend that shape because it’s an awkward shape, it’s lop-sided because I don’t have a left winger, my left winger comes inside,’ he elaborated further.
‘But we knew that if they do that, it means Nico [Lukhubeni] is free as a right back, so we pushed Nico out when we don’t have the ball and Lebo plays inside, to push Malepe in and that’s why Nico had the chance to travel with the ball to get the goal because he’s free, they play lop-sided, it hurt them.
‘There’s another one, we should have scored but because he’s very good coach Norman Mapeza, he corrected it, that’s why he made a sub and brought [Thabo] Rakhale over there [in place of Meshack Maphangule in the 29th minute].
‘But if you bring Rakhale over there [on the wing], it means you’re weakening the midfield, then we can play, then we control the match.’
The Sundowns mentor went on to explain his reason for substituting winger Themba Zwane and goalkeeper Denis Onyango in the closing stages of the game.
‘That’s why we take Themba Zwane out, he’s very angry with me, because he says, “Why are you taking me out, I can go and score”. I said, “It’s not about you to score, it’s about the Wednesday game against Bloemfontein Celtic and we have a Saturday game, we’ve got three games in six days”,’ he added.
‘So we’re monitoring him, he wants to play and score but I have to do what I have to do and rest him. I wanted also to take [Gaston] Sirino out but Denis [Onyango] forced me to make a sub because he’s got this tight hamstring that’s always giving him problems and we can’t play these big games without Denis.
‘He can have a rest when we play VUT [Vaal University of Technology], but the game on Wednesday it’s very important for us, so if it’s OK he needs to play, it’s okay but if it’s a little bit dicey, he doesn’t have to play.
‘And we were cheating all the time in the last ten minutes, the ball fell for us and we were cheating.
‘The final third, the pass, the control, it fell to the player I thought he’s gotta get a brace and do something, Sirino, all he did was miscontrol, miscontrol [and] miscontrol. It’s unbelievable. I’m not happy with the last 30 minutes,’ he concluded.
