Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena blames himself after his side dropped points in their goalless draw against Cape Town City at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Sundowns stretched their impressive unbeaten run to 18 DStv Premiership matches, despite playing out to a stalemate against the Citizens.

The Brazilians will look to bounce back as they prepare to take on Swallows FC in their next DStv Premiership encounter at the Dobsonville Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Mokwena believes that he should take the blame for his side dropping points in the league but admits that he was pleased with his side’s performance on the day but rues their missed chances.

“Today I think we had a little bit of anxiety in the final third and I don’t know what happened, but that’s why I can write it off very, very quickly because it’s unlike us. On another day Cassius [Mailula] makes a better first touch and opens the body and takes a shot. Today he closes the body and looks for a combination, on another day [Themba Zwane] Mshishi opens the body and takes a shot instead of looking [for his teammates]. Neo [Maema] makes a better decision to not go to his right but come to his left in one of the situations, Peter [Shalulile] has a better touch on the diagonal,” Mokwena told his slub’s official website.

He added: “It’s football, this is what makes the game so interesting, you never know what to expect. What we can control is the performances, the schemes and with us it’s very clear, our build-up schemes are very clear and today much safer and much more controlled [with] less errors. [Aubrey] Modiba was so good today also and he’s so important for us with the build-up. [Teboho Mokoena] Tebza was good, sometimes you can find the diagonal pass a little bit more instead of finding the vertical pass from one half space to another but we can find for an example Neo to Allende or [Grant Kekana] Zeda to Allende, but but listen today I was happy with the performance, happy with the intensity, happy with the passing and the movement.

“Maybe it’s also my fault you know, because when I analysed the games I said you could have passed instead of taking a shot. How many times do you see us come to the final third and sometimes instead of making a pass we shoot? So maybe it’s my fault also, because I encouraged a little bit more of the extra pass. I was happy with the performance actually. On another day to be honest, on another day we make better decisions, so [it’s] very easy for me to write this off,” he concluded.

Mamelodi Sundowns against Swallows FC kicks off at 3pm on Sunday.

Photo by Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix