While he plans to implement his style of play at Chloorkop, Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso says he is wary of causing a division in the dressing room by making drastic changes to the star-studded team. 

Cardoso picked up his second win since taking over after his side edged Stellenbosch thanks to a solitary first-half goal from Iqraam Rayners, who haunted his former side at DHL Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday. 

The win saw the defending Betway Premiership champions go three points clear of Orlando Pirates on the log standings, but the Soweto giants have a game in hand after their match against Sekhukhune United was postponed on Tuesday. 

Cardoso made six changes to the starting XI that won against Raja Casablanca in the CAF Champions League; however, he insists that he won’t be looking to shake up the squad, emphasizing continuity and improvement from his predecessor’s imprint. 

“It’s important to pick the team from where it was and not change things drastically otherwise you can create discomfort. So, gradually with small details we are trying to move the team forward, we’ve got a lot of respect for the work that was done by coach Manqoba [Mngqithi] before us, ” he said. 

“And just moving forward from the point where it [the team] was, no brakes and sudden changes on the team, otherwise the discomfort would probably be too big and the work would not be too productive, and now from here we gradually improve ourselves.”

The Portuguese mentor went on to explain the decision behind rotating half of the team on his league debut against Stellies, highlighting the need to be careful with the load on the players with games coming thick and fast. 

“The team needs to improve, it’s not a question of the players, obviously we changed players from the last game. Some of them because we need to manage the fatigue, some others because they had small issues, ” Cardoso stated. 

“But the question here is how we believe in all the players, obviously they are at different levels, some of them are young, some of them are more experienced, and some of them have their characteristics that allow us to cope with the moments of the game and with the different teams we are facing.” 

The Brazilians will travel to KZN where they are set to take on AmaZulu at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Tuesday, 24 December in their next Betway Premiership encounter, with the  Masandawana having lost a league meeting to Usuthu since December 2021.