They may have clinched their fifth successive Premiership title with four games to spare last week, but Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi still wants to see the same intensity in their remaining matches.
Mngqithi said they still have targets to achieve and want to better last season's points tally of 67 to get to 70.
And he has told his side to treat their remaining four matches seriously, starting with today's match against Sekhukhune United at Ellis Park Stadium at 5.30pm.
“It’s always a little bit difficult to be sure that the message will go across but as a club we have always set our targets and our players know very well that we got our benchmarks that we are trying to achieve or to better them,” Mngqithi told the club's media department.
“Last season we had 67 points and one of the biggest margins was 71 points, which we will no longer reach. But we can still go beyond the 67 points that we achieved last year.
“And that is what we aim to achieve and our players know very well. But we have to work hard in their minds in making sure that they respect this process because we set that together.
“We were not only coaches making decisions, but everybody got a sense of ownership towards what we want to achieve.”
Despite Sekhukhune having strengthened their technical team by bringing in Owen da Gama, Mngqithi is not expecting a different team today.
“They have always been a good team but obviously when you bring a new coach at this stage of the season...the players want to perform to impress the new coach,” he said.
“But having looked at their game against Arrows, I don’t think there is more that they can still change at this stage of the season. Maybe it will only be a change of line-ups.
“We understand very well what to expect from that match because they got very good pace upfront. Now they have Justin Shonga, Charlton Mashumba and [Tshediso] Patjie, who is also a very big factor in their offensive play. And that makes them a team that deserves to be respected.”
Meanwhile, Sekhukhune defender Edwin Gymah is hoping they will build on their goalless draw against Arrows in their last game.
“As a team we have not had a good run recently and I think in our previous performance against Arrows, that's a boost for us,” he said.
Sundowns won’t let up despite bagging title
Champions target 70 points
Image: Lee Warren/Gallo Images
They may have clinched their fifth successive Premiership title with four games to spare last week, but Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi still wants to see the same intensity in their remaining matches.
Mngqithi said they still have targets to achieve and want to better last season's points tally of 67 to get to 70.
And he has told his side to treat their remaining four matches seriously, starting with today's match against Sekhukhune United at Ellis Park Stadium at 5.30pm.
“It’s always a little bit difficult to be sure that the message will go across but as a club we have always set our targets and our players know very well that we got our benchmarks that we are trying to achieve or to better them,” Mngqithi told the club's media department.
“Last season we had 67 points and one of the biggest margins was 71 points, which we will no longer reach. But we can still go beyond the 67 points that we achieved last year.
“And that is what we aim to achieve and our players know very well. But we have to work hard in their minds in making sure that they respect this process because we set that together.
“We were not only coaches making decisions, but everybody got a sense of ownership towards what we want to achieve.”
Despite Sekhukhune having strengthened their technical team by bringing in Owen da Gama, Mngqithi is not expecting a different team today.
“They have always been a good team but obviously when you bring a new coach at this stage of the season...the players want to perform to impress the new coach,” he said.
“But having looked at their game against Arrows, I don’t think there is more that they can still change at this stage of the season. Maybe it will only be a change of line-ups.
“We understand very well what to expect from that match because they got very good pace upfront. Now they have Justin Shonga, Charlton Mashumba and [Tshediso] Patjie, who is also a very big factor in their offensive play. And that makes them a team that deserves to be respected.”
Meanwhile, Sekhukhune defender Edwin Gymah is hoping they will build on their goalless draw against Arrows in their last game.
“As a team we have not had a good run recently and I think in our previous performance against Arrows, that's a boost for us,” he said.
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