Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has tipped Orlando Pirates to be their biggest threat toward their Betway Premiership title defence, ruling out Stellenbosch FC from posing any challenge.
Sundowns have won an unprecedented seven league titles in a row and are looking to make it an eighth in succession despite a shaky start to the campaign where they were booted out of the MTN8 competition.
In the past two seasons, Pirates have finished second and last term by a 20-point difference from Sundowns, and Mngqithi, in his candid chat with iDiski Times senior writer Velile Mnyandu in the current edition of the newspaper, believes that the Buccaneers stand a better chance because of the quality and depth they possess, further advising that they would need to break their hoodoo against so-called smaller clubs.
“Because they’ve [Pirates] got enough depth and quality,” Mngqithi told iDiski Times.
“They will be the team that challenges us this season, but they have a tendency to lose against small teams, and the league is won by winning all the small games.
“Even if they can beat you, if you beat all the other small teams, you win the league.”
As far as Stellies is concerned, the former Golden Arrows coach ruled them out of league contention, despite Sundowns failing to score against them in the Wafa Wafa Cup.
“No, I don’t think they have enough depth to sustain themselves for the season,” he added.
