Manqoba Mngqithi

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has shed light on Masandawana’s lack of killer instinct in front of goal ahead of their CAF Champions League tie against Mbabane Swallows on Saturday.

Sundowns - Figure 1
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Bafana Ba Style will lock horns with the Eswatini side in their first-leg tie for a place in the Champions League group phase at Lucas Moripe Stadium, with the kickoff set for 20:00.

The Chloorkop-based outfit has been wasteful in front of goal since the start of the new PSL season. So far, Sundowns have played three official matches which were against Polokwane City FC and Stellenbosch FC in the MTN8 competition.

From those three matches, Downs managed to find the back of the net on one occasion which was an own goal against ‘The Rise and Shine’ in the MTN8 quarter-final clash.

MANQOBA MNGQITHI CONFIDENT THEY WILL OVERCOME THE GOALSCORING PROBLEM

Mngqithi revealed that it’s too soon to start panicking about Sundowns’ scoring problems as they have worked hard on that aspect during their preparation phase.

“Well, on the finishing, I think we did have an opportunity to work on that aspect, but it is not yet at the level where we are panicking because we had an opportunity to work on that during our preparation phase. If we start to panic, we will have problems,” said Mngqithi.

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“It’s very important to understand that sometimes, in football, we don’t achieve our objectives within a very short space of time. It takes time.

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Manqoba Mngqithi with his asisstant Romain Folz

“I remember at some stage, one team I was working with coach Mandla Ncikazi in, he was working very hard on set pieces, and we were conceding in set pieces and not scoring on set pieces, and they were panicking. I then said to them, ‘You know, in football, sometimes you get rewarded when the least you expect it’. And in the first match, we scored two goals, and it was against Sundowns, and both goals came from set pieces.”

Mngqithi further added: “So, from there, we started scoring from setpieces properly in four to seven games in a row, and we were no longer conceding. In football, the moment you realise you put a lot of stress and emphasis, it causes a lot of anxiety, and with anxiety, you know your precision will be compromised.

“If people are calmer and you create a calm environment in what you think at that point and time something is not happening right, then maybe that’s when you create better possibilities to get the best of them. I still believe we are still going to score a lot of goals.”

Mngqithi will be gunning for fruitful results when they take on Mbabane Swallows and believe that they convert their chances.

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