Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi says they know they are facing an in-form Orlando Pirates side on Saturday, but he feels they also have weaknesses they can exploit.
The DStv Premiership champions will travel to Orlando Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Sundowns are currently top of the table, while Pirates are in fourth spot, one point behind Sundowns.
Mngqithi says they will go into the game respecting their opponent, but hope to take advantage of areas they’ve identified as weaknesses in the Pirates side.
“The most important thing when you come to matches like this is to always have a fair share of humility, and respect,” Mngqithi told the club’s media department.
“No room for arrogance, they have done well in their last few matches. But we are facing a very good team that is on form, that has just played a very good game against Chippa, showed their quality.
“So we have to give it the respect it requires, and do our work, profiling them properly, do our analysis and see which areas can we capitalise on, which areas are they strong on, and make sure that we deal with that.
“And we know Pirates on transition has always been one of the strongest teams in the country. But be that as it may, that also becomes a very big weakness on their side, they also not very good with rest defence, they are open sometimes when the lost possession of the ball, so it’s important to have that proper balance of dealing with their transitions and good counter pressing.
“And also, maybe some good rest defence, but also ready to counter the counter, because we might get something in that space.”
