Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has revealed why they usually make so many changes in all games they play. 

Sundowns made nine changes to their team that started against Kaizer Chiefs over the weekend in the Carling Knockout when they beat Polokwane City on Wednesday.   

Only Ronwen Williams and Peter Shalulile started against Rise and Shine. Shalulile was leading the attack alongside Arthur Sales and the youngster Kutlwano Letlhaku who scored a brace. 

“I think what is mainly important as a leader is being proactive as a leader, to make everybody aware of the journey that you are going to take,” Mngqithi said. 

“You must make everybody aware of what might happen [in the future], but there are benefits and disadvantages to that. But we also make everybody understand, we are not just putting it through their throats. 

“Everybody understands that we are trying to make sure that we’ve got a fresh squad for a longer, because whenever we go through towards the quarterfinals of the Champions League [some players fail to show up when they usually don’t get a game time]. 

“You come back to the quarterfinal we played against Wydad if I’m not mistaken, we were not looking very good, and also against Yanga we were not looking very good as well, but fortunately we managed to go through. So, we must be fresher when it’s come to that stage of those games of consequences.” 

Following their victory on Wednesday, the Brazilians now have 18 points, three points behind the log leaders Orlando Pirates. Mngqithi revealed his team played very well against Polokwane and the players need to be congratulated. 

 “I think we started the game well, we wanted better mobility, better speed of play and I think that’s what we got in the early stages of the game. But as the half progressed we started getting comfortable after scoring a goal, we started seeing more midfielders coming short in front of the opposition which killed our momentum,” Mngqithi said. 

“I think we started the second half very well, probably the best start of the second half this season in my opinion. We’ve got a lot of triangulation, good tactical discipline, good rotation from the eights to create a hole for us to be able to find the tense. 

“We wanted rare results in this game and we got the results, and I think we must congratulate players for doing their best.” 

The Brazilians will now take a break in the league as they will be participating in the Carling Knockout this weekend. Mngqithi’s side will be playing against Marumo Gallants on Sunday at Dr Molemela Stadium in the semi-final of the Carling Knockout.