Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has addressed the half-time change of midfielder Miguel Reisinho who has endured an indifferent time since arriving at the club.
The 26-year-old joined Sundowns on a free transfer after his exit from Primeira Liga outfit Boavista and arrived with major fanfare due to his reputation in his homeland as a technical gifted central midfielder who played for the U17 up until U20 Portugal national team.
- ALSO READ: Sundowns Go Top With Eighth Consecutive League Win
- Cardoso – Why I’m Excited About Saleng Now
His role as a deep lying playmaker to play between the lines was seen as a signing to bring more attacking input into the Sundowns side but so far he’s struggled to stamp his authority despite glimpses of his quality.
And in the 3-1 win over Marumo Gallants, he was substituted at the break for Teboho Mokoena, who netted the eventual winner for Masandawana.
“He played ORBIT match, he played 90 minutes and he scored. I think he made a hell of a match there,” he stated when asked by iDiski Times about Reisinho’s performance and half-time substitution.
“We felt completely comfortable to bring him in the match. I agree that today was not a good match from him.
“But I think as saying before, the team helped no one. I don’t know who I can say in the first half was really on the [right] level inside the pitch.
“Everyone was a little bit distant from the level they have to be and when that happens, it touches everybody.
“When that happens, we shouldn’t be too much analyzing on everybody. But for sure I have to analyze who was on the level, and that’s mostly done when I look at the video and understand.”
‘A Lot Of Mechanical Engineering’
Cardoso then went on to explain he brought in Teboho Mokoena to stabilize the middle but also being able to drive the attacks via the Bafana Bafana midfielder, who would also drop back into defence when defending.
“I had mostly give some balance to the team, bringing a clear player as a six in the team – neither Miguel, nor Marcelo are a six,” he added.
“But as you understood in the beginning, we had Fawaz inverted in a in a three-man build up, having open in one side, Zuko, the other one Tashreeq. But after 15 minutes, when I felt that we were a little bit sloppy, I decided to bring one more player inside.
“And when you expose a defense with with just two players on the build up, and you don’t have a clear six, and you have two players that don’t have the routine to stay more positional, to balance the team, it becomes a little bit tricky in terms of exposing counter attacks.
“And I decided to take Miguel [out] to have capacity to have the team stabilized by the middle and being able to then provoke something more from the outside. Even because I knew that with the 1-1 today was a match to go with everything in terms of winning.
“And there would be a moment that I would take out one of the full-backs, to put a winger on and play just with three defenders in a structure. And as you saw, that happened when we brought inside Salang and Iqraam, we took out one full-back, and basically on the moment we would lose the ball, we would ask Teboho to enter as a center-back, Keegan [Johannes], playing on the right.
“So that’s why today was a victory of a lot of ‘Mechanical Engineering’ on the pitch in terms of managing players.”
Reisinho has scored two goals with one assist in 13 games for Sundowns across all competitions since his arrival in September 2025.
