Mamelodi Sundowns co head coach Rulani Mokwena says while there is still work to be done, he is pleased about how their new signings have performed so far this season.
Sundowns are unbeaten so far this season, and are currently top of the DStv Premiership, and will play Cape Town City later this month in the MTN8 final.
When asked by iDiski Times writer Rob Delport about how well new players Grant Kekana, Thabiso Kutumela, Pavol Safranko, Neo Maema and Divine Lunga have been integrated into the team, Mokwena enthused about the players and the squad.
“Yeah, hopefully, we see a lot more from them, Rob,” Mokwena said.
“Look, it’s kudos to the entire group. I mean, for the new players to integrate so quickly, of course, then you’ve got to look at the environment that has been created by the players that we’ve had, welcoming them with warm hands and making sure that they are integrated into the group as quickly as possible, where they feel comfortable and, and they are able to give their best for the team.
“They’ve worked also very, very hard to create this bondage and their element of trust, which is very important, the number one responsibility for any new player in any group, in team sports is to make sure that they create the trust with their teammates, and that is their responsibility, which they’ve done and they’ve done through commitment and hard work and dedication, every single day.
“We know why we recruited them, we know why we worked so hard to get them into into the team and we’ve got to just thank the President, the Chairman of the club and the management for backing us and supporting us in the market, and giving us quality players that have come in to improve the squad.
“So yep, we are in a in a privileged position, but with privilege comes a lot of pressure. Pressure to produce the results. But of course, as a team, we win and lose as a team, and that pressure must be accepted, that pressure must be welcomed, but that pressure must be shared.
“And when we do that, we know that as a collective, we are able to put the right results for the team. But good, all of them offer different things.”
Mokwena then explained what exactly each of the new players has added to the defending DStv Prfermiship champions so far.
“I mean Grant gives us this versatility to be able to cover both right full back and and centre half,” he continued.
“Pavol gives us a different dimension and you could see what the goal that he scored, and even with the situations he got himself into against Pirates, against TS Galaxy, and even against Golden Arrows, you see a different dimension, where we know we can link up now with a focal point, we can have possibilities to have presence in situations that we try to develop using our full backs and then connecting to the frontline.
“Neo and Kutumela give us very, very similar elements that we felt we didn’t have last season which is this pressure around the ball, the ability to dribble and manipulate very tight spaces when teams have reinforced the defensive block, both on the left and the right, and Kutumela in particular, from more central areas.
“And ja, good hopefully. And of course, again, also with Divine at left full-back we still waiting to see Sifiso Ngobeni, but in time and we have to be patient still with him. As much as we have to be patient with the team, we are still very, very far from the ultimate, very, very far from hitting top top gear.
“So we’ve got a lot of work to do, a hell of a lot of work to do, and we just got to focus on making sure that we continue to improve.”
