Another former Mamelodi Sundowns star Papi Mbele has thrown his support behind the club's new head coach Manqoba Mngqithi.
Mngqithi was put under fire by some of the football supporters following Sundown's hard-fought win over Polokwane City in the MTN8 Cup Quarterfinals encounter on Sunday.Sundowns needed an own goal to beat the Limpopo club 1-0 at home.
They will now face Stellenbosch FC in the cup competition's semi-final stage.
According to Papi Mbele, a difficult start was always expected from Sundowns in their first official game of the season.
"There's always a first game; it's about checking where can we fix; according to the Sundowns coach, some players were not available for the Polokwane City game," Mbele tells KickOff.
"I'm personally impressed; there are no major changes in terms of structure and identity; they were playing as they were used to.
"The only difference was Jody February playing long balls, which is something we are not used to at Sundowns; you have to be confident as a player.
"We were also playing the long ball behind the Polokwane City defense. You cannot instruct Themba Zwane to play crosses, that's not how Sundowns play.
"Remember, first games after pre-season are always difficult; Sundowns managed 90+ minutes with 10 players. Hence, they came with professionalism that nobody understood, including myself.
"After the red card, the players came up with a solution that didn't involve the coaches; if Denise Onyango was directly replaced, we were going to play with nine players.
"Most of the teams learned a lot from what Sundowns did on Sunday; once your goalkeeper gets a red card, don't rush to substitute an onfield player because that will leave you with nine players.
"People will always expect a lot from Sundowns especially since Rulani Mokwena left."