Cape Town Spurs head coach Ernst Middendorp says their performance against Mamelodi Sundowns had something to do with their lack of confidence.
Spurs remained seven points behind 15th-placed Richards Bay at the bottom of the table after goals from Sipho Mbule, Grant Kekana and Peter Shalulile saw them lose their fifth game in a row.
Middendorp admitted that the Brazilians were dominant, although he felt they should have done better to close them down effectively in the first stanza after they went to the break 2-0 up.
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"Ja a total dominance from Sundowns, I was hoping we had made some steps in terms of physicality, in terms of tactically doing the right stuff but obviously it's not too much as a result to be seen today," Middendorp told SuperSport TV.
"The passing accuracy being available to really have combinations, the support in the movement forward, out of all this typical stuff, parameter you need to create chances, haven't seen today, was not there.
"This is definitely something when you keep it longer, having at this moment really a convincing package to offer, closing the passing lines, it's not a new concept that nobody knows.
"But they did it in a fantastic way, we were prepared for it, we did it so far to a certain extension but then you concede the goal, concede the second goal and then the dominance, the confidence of a team like Sundowns as we have seen.
"You can go through the game, simple you lose the midfield area, one against one, meaning in this moment the opponent has a four against two, three against two, that means the pressure is on the defensive line."
The former Kaizer Chiefs coach continued and blamed the defeat on their confidence levels being low and questioned whether some of the players have the capacity to play 90 minutes consistently.
"Of course it has something to do with confidence, if you've only won one game and you're losing, you're sitting rock bottom. Definitely at half-time it was not about shouting," he continued.
"It is just going out with a jumping concept, what we have seen in the end of the first-half, one jump from from one to another, that's not healthy for your defensive concept. You need the ball and your own teammate as a reference point but there's a lot of stuff to do.
"Actually I have to look into the data, I'm not sure each and everybody from the conditioning side is able to produce 90 minutes. I think too many actions, too many recovery time in between the action I have seen. We can continue to talk about what we need to do, what has to be done in the future," he added.
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