Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi believes that his side’s early exit from the MTN8 has given them a rare chance to work on integrating the new players into their setup.
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 which was then followed up with a 0-0 draw against TTM.
However, after missing out on the MTN8 semi-finals Downs have been afforded some much needed time to work on things 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 build up perspective in the midfield‚ on the consolidation side and also our creative side in the number ten 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.
"In as much 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.”
