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Tinkler promises to be offensive against rampaging Sundowns

'If you are going to sit back, they will punish you'

Neville Khoza Journalist
Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler.
Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler.
Image: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix/Gallo Images

Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler has shared his analyses on how he thinks Mamelodi Sundowns have been successful so far ahead of their MTN8 final at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday at 6pm.

Sundowns have not tasted defeat across all competitions and are yet to concede a goal in the DStv Premiership.

“I think everybody looks at Sundowns offensively but if you look at them and study them carefully they are actually quite a reserved team that doesn’t take a lot of risks,” Tinkler told the media yesterday.

“Normally, they will have two centre-backs and Andile Jali and Rivaldo Coetzee sitting in and allowing the full-backs to get forward. But they will always have four or five players as defensive blocks looking to try and defend counterattacks and transitions.

“They are not a team that looks to commit a lot of bodies going forward. They are a team that pretty much plays direct football.

“But the quality that Themba Zwane and Thabiso Kutumela bring, and Jali and Coetzee becoming the first line of defence when Sundowns lose the ball and ability to press, make them a hard team to score against.

“You have to be a lot more intelligent if you have to find space to exploit against them and credit to them, they worked hard in the last years.”

He said they would try to play offensive football against the Brazilians.

“Sundowns, with the quality that they have, if you are going to sit back and wait, they will punish you. We have to be brave and we will go out and play offensive and attacking football because that’s what we are good at,” he said.

“If we had to win 4-3, like the [league] game against Golden Arrows [on Saturday], it would be fantastic. It will be good for the fans if we see a final with a lot of goals. Defensively we have to be better, especially coming up against a quality side like Sundowns is going to bring.

“But at the same time we focus on where our strength lies. We managed to get ourselves into the final and we are playing a very good team in Sundowns, who are definite favourites and we go in as the underdogs.

“And that’s the good position to be, in my opinion, to be underdogs. So we will work extremely hard during the week in terms of our preparations and our planning.”

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