Chiefs' recent results not a true reflection of their performance, says Sundowns coach Mokwena

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena has cautioned his players against underestimating a struggling Kaizer Chiefs ahead of the sides’ highly-anticipated DStv Premiership clash at FNB Stadium on Saturday (8pm).

Runaway log leaders Sundowns head into the game as favourites to extend their league winning streak to 12 matches while Amakhosi have suffered a couple of disheartening defeats in a row.

Chiefs lost 1-0 to Sekhukhune United on their 53rd anniversary and last week went down 4-0 to AmaZulu FC.

Mokwena said the results are not a true reflection of Chiefs’ performance, suggesting his counterpart at Amakhosi Arthur Zwane has done a good job.

“Chiefs will always be Kaizer Chiefs, a big club historically that needs to be given a lot of respect,” Mokwena said.

“They have great players on the pitch and maybe even performances have been much, much better than the results suggest.

“If you only look at the scorelines just like that against AmaZulu, you get the wrong impression about the team,” he said.

“If you check only the results against Sekhukhune you (also) get the wrong impression about the performance levels about the team because they are extremely well organised and very clear in their patterns of play, well-drilled schemes.

“They have very good players with a good coach and good technical team around them.”

Though some critics have said Chiefs’ problems stem from the team not having players that suit their style of play, Mokwena believes the Soweto giants have a good squad with experienced campaigners.  

“Chiefs’ profile is very clear and a very good mixture. (Sfiso) Hlanti is experienced, (Edmilson) Dove is very experienced, Zitha (Kwinika) very experienced with great leadership, capacity and profile,” Mokwena said.

“Then you go to the midfield with Yusuf Maart who got good youth experience at a good level internationally. He has a very good foundation from an academic perspective with his profile of where he comes from.

“It is a team that has good strengths, good players. Keagan Dolly is very experienced and occupies the half space on the right side very well with a lot of comfort,” he said.

 “But we have to go in there and play the game the way the game wants us to play it.

“We will play it by always trying to be better than the opponent by always trying to have the best chances and profile on the pitch.”