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- Mamelodi Sundowns suffered a 3-0 humbling a the hands of Orlando Pirates at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday.
- Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi feels that they missed their top goal scorer Peter Shalulile.
- Mngqithi says the game changed once Pirates snatched an early goal.
Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngithi believes the unavailability of star player Peter Shalulile was a big factor in their MTN8 semi-final defeat to Orlando Pirates.
The Brazilians were hammered 3-0 by Pirates at the Peter Mokaba Stadium where they fell to a Monnapule Saleng brace following Kermit Erasmus' controversial early goal in the first period.
Despite Sundowns dominating the game, they missed multiple chances and lacked the killer instinct Shalulile brings to the table.
"For sure, we will be lying if we said we are not missing Peter," Mngqithi told reporters.
"We tried the best we can to not expose to everyone that he is out because we know that everyone knows how dependent we are in his ability to finish our chances and to pose a lot of threat. He also gives us a chance from the first line of defence with his high press and speed.
"That certainly had an effect on the whole team but we were consoling ourselves with the number of goals we scored prior to this match, but we knew for a fact that at some point if we don't take our chances, we might be exposed that we might not have a player of Peter Shalulile's calibre."
Despite the heavy defeat, Mngqithi believes his side played well and that the game was changed once Pirates got the early lead as they are a difficult team to break down.
"I think we played the way we wanted to play, very unfortunate to concede the goal early in the match, which I believe very strongly, was outside of the goal-line when Saleng put the ball in.
"Once Pirates score that early in the match, the game favours them because Pirates is a team that thrives on transitions and counter attacks.
"We must also take blame because I think we lost too many balls, knowing the strength of the opposition on transitions, we cannot afford to risk possession like that because once they decide to go in a low block, a little more patience and width is wanted to try and open them up slowly but patiently without rushing to force passes.
"But more than anything else, the goal that they scored early in the match made life very difficult for us because when you play against Pirates you must worry a lot about your rest defence and worry about breaking that low block down and that is where I think the game was lost," concluded Mngqithi.
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