Former Kaizer Chiefs coach Steve Komphela could have masterminded a win against Amakhosi for Mamelodi Sundowns, following revelations by Muhsin Ertugral.
Sundowns bagged a controversial 2-1 win over Chiefs in the Betway Premiership on Saturday, coming from behind to score two quick goals ahead of the interval through Lucas Ribeiro Costa and Iqraam Rayners.
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Despite enjoying possession inside the opposition half, they went behind early on but started to threaten on the counter after that, before eventually getting the two goals on transition.
The second goal, netted by Rayners, opened a huge debate and controversy, as Ribeiro was accused of being in an offside position before playing a square ball to the striker, who applied the finishing touch.
What turned the game around, according to former Chiefs coach Ertugral, was how the Tshwane giants retreated a bit, allowed Nasreddine Nabi's men to advance further so they could get more space on counter-attacks, with Ribeiro key to unlock the five-man defence.
The Turkish mentor says he saw this only happening after the intervention of Komphela, who was influential in Ribeiro's positioning.
"He [Costa] was trying to push. After 20 minutes, I saw Steve Komphela stood up and tried to explain to them, the pinning, to push them a little bit backwards to have space [behind defence on counter-attack]," Ertugral said on SoccerBeat YouTube Channel.
Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi surprised the supporters, even the Brazilian himself, after he replaced him on the hour-mark and brought on Peter Shalulile.
"In my opinion, they took Ribeiro out, which... for me, he was the Man of the Match. If they asked me who was Man of the Match, I'd definitely say number 10 of Sundowns. What he does you cannot actually see on the TV, you don't see the full field, his positioning. He gave Chiefs problems on their left side, the half-space, he used that marvelously. So, when they took him off, actually it helped Chiefs to come into the game even better and they stabilized," explained Ertugral.
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Mngqithi has so far shown a tendency to rotate his squad, even with the substitutions, and the former Ajax Cape Town coach was not sure if that was the right approach.
"This rotation is always difficult because you don't get the momentum. Sometimes it's difficult, for me. For me, I'd use a smaller squad, so you stay with the intensity."