Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has explained how and why he will change the system in comparison to Rulani Mokwena last season, having an eye on the close games in the CAF Champions League.
Mokwena, who has joined Wydad Athletic Club after his surprise Sundowns departure, favoured a possession-based style that was trying create overloads, especially in the middle of the pitch, with the 37-year-old often high-lighting that he didn’t like to focus on wing-play.
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But after Sundowns failed to score in their CAFCL quarter-final over Young Africans SC, needing penalties to advance, and the semi-final defeat to ES Tunis, Mngqithi and the current Sundowns technical team seem to have found weaknesses in that approach, which has led to a change in tactics and approach.
“We’ve moved away from a 4-4-2 formation to a 4-3-3 because of the squad that we have, I think it’s more suitable for that type of a game,” he told the Pitchside Podcast.
“Very quick in breaking the lines, very quick full-backs who can help us high and wide, with a very good passing range from all our centre-backs, including our central midfielders – they can find anyone, anywhere on the pitch.
“I felt last season, we were very strong in ball possession, we were very strong defensively, but we I don’t think we were really hurting opponents that much behind their defence and also we were not really using width a lot.”
Mngqithi went on to explain that the focus will be more on attacks, creating chances and box entries, in order to penetrate deep sitting opponents, especially in the CAFCL.
“The three things that I always emphasize as a coach – the speed of play: we will play faster than what we were last season. It’s very important to me,” he continued.
“A lot of wing play with a lot of box entries. Possession will still be there. In the PSL you can expect us to have a lot of possession, but I’m not too interested in that emphasis that because that emphasis is detrimental to us in the Champions League.
“Because in the Champions League we are expected to attack opponents and you are playing against people who not respect you.
“We’ve got a very powerful build-up in the PSL, [but] the question is how it will help you [in the CAFCL] because we meet teams who will be sitting back.
“But if you’ve got a lot of games, where you know when you’re approaching the second third you’ll have a lot of impact, a lot of runs off the ball, a lot of balls played into the box, a lot of cutbacks, crosses, a lot of movement and dribbling from one-vs-one situations in the wide channels, then the chances of scoring goals, creating free-kicks, corner kicks, penalties, are there.
“Because you need to create these situations by playing there but if you’re not there, don’t be surprised if you never had a corner kick, never had a free-kick that was dangerous, because you were not playing around that area a lot.
“If you’re not getting that goal from open play, you’re getting a set-piece, maybe that set-piece is going to break the game apart and a team that had planned to sit back the whole game vs Sundowns, once you get that set-piece early and you’re going to score, the game opens up.
“It will only happen if you interested in attacking the box as much as possible.”
