Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane picked out the Zimbabwean duo of hardman Willard Katsande and defender Teenage Hadebe for criticism after his team’s goalless draw against Kaizer Chiefs before 70 000 fans at the FNB Stadium on Saturday night.
Speaking to SuperSport TV, Mosimane insisted that despite only having had two shots on target against Amakhosi, his team is better going forward than Steve Komphela’s men.
“I’m happy because I scored three last week, I scored four against Celtic, I scored five against Baroka, I scored three against Pirates — hence the goal difference, hence nobody can talk to us about goals,’’ he said.
“Tonight maybe we had two shots on target, but we were playing a big team here that is very good at the back. That’s why they have 17 (league) goals — because they don’t go forward a lot.”
Mosimane took aim at two Chiefs players in particular, claiming:
“(Teenage) Hadebe was very lucky. He should have got a second yellow, you know — and we knew (Willard) Katsande would come and kick, but we said we must kick him back because he bullies everybody. I instructed (Tiyani) Mabunda: ‘If he kicks you, kick him back. If he gets away with it, you will get away with it.” The visiting coach did, however, admit that Katsande was a “very good player”, even if his playing style had left Mosimane “emotional
The Amakhosi started off the better of the two sides and should have made the most of their half chances in the opening spell. Overall, apart from Sundowns hitting the post in quick succession, Komphela rued Willard Katsande’s late attempt but he was happy with the outcome none more with their substitutions.
“I thought it was a good game with good energy and compliments must be given to both sets of supporters for their support. I thought the players from both teams showed up,” he added.
“I thought the header from Katsande would have changed things, but we also felt their threats at the other end. Compliments must be given to our defensive and offensive players. On the other side, their defence withstood the pressure. We tried to break it but it was a stalemate. Matches of this nature are determined by set-plays, and I thought there weren’t many of that in my opinion.
“We avoided having too many set-plays around our box because we know how dangerous they are, but we also tried to utilise ours. All of our subs were positive from our side,” he said. — KickOff.
