Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi believes his side’s early exit from the MTN8 has given them a rare chance to work on integrating the new players into their set-up.

The Brazilians were downed 1-0 by Bloemfonetin Celtic in their opening game of the season in the MTN8 quarters, only to bounce back with a resounding 3-0 win over Kaizer Chiefs in their league opener and then following up with a 0-0 draw with TTM.

However, after missing out on the MTN8 semi-finals Downs have been afforded some much-needed time for work-ons on the training pitch at Chloorkop.

‘We still have issues of adaptation for some of the players and we are trying to integrate everybody within the team So this gives us a little bit of time to work without the pressure of preparing for a game,’ said Mngqithi.

‘[We can work] on the aspects of things we think are important‚ and to play the way we want them to play.

‘We are encouraged by some of the things we have seen already and the changes we are trying to bring to the team structure from a buildup perspective in the midfield‚ on the consolidation side and also our creative side in the No 10 position where Zwane and Mkhulise find themselves a lot.

‘Our wing play at times is not as crisp as one would have loved‚ our position to isolate at times the movement or the speed of the ball is not what we want.

‘We are working very hard on those aspects and to be honest there are a lot of positives in what we want. But, unfortunately, you would want in the process to keep getting maximum points and build while you are getting maximum points.

‘When you don’t get the maximum points you start feeling negative and the vibe is not the same‚ but we are confident that we will be able to come up with something after the break.

‘Inasmuch as one will be focusing on the training of the team and integrating new players‚ we are also at looking to have one or two friendly matches.’