Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Rhulani Mokwena explains what went wrong during their 2-0 defeat to CR Belouizdad in their last game of the Caf Champions League group stages against CR Belouizdad on Friday.
The defeat did not affect Sundowns as they already qualified for the quarter-finals as the winners of Group B after amassing 13 points.
However, this was the Brazilians first defeat in this year’s competition, out of six games, claiming four victories, a draw and a loss in the group stages.
'We are disappointed with the result, disappointed with the performance and with the overall application in the first half. Disappointed with the elementary mistakes committed for the two goals, apart from that we saw the performance is not our usual, very disappointing afternoon,' Mokwena told his club's official website.
'You could already see particularly from their high press, they pressed a little differently than they used to do. Sayoud their number ten pressed a little higher than he normally does, in previous matches, he drifts and controls the deep line and in this game, he was pressing in certain moments.
'We had to use the ball better and that is where our problems were, we did not create enough very good opportunities. That is the reality and we could not get going with our build-up. After we made that big mistake, it affected a lot of the confidence to play from Ricardo Goss.
'We uncharacteristically went long, bypassed the midfield and once we did that you know anything that comes into the air they eat for breakfast. Performance and from a tactical perspective, not a very good show,' Mokwena concluded.
