Rulani praises Sundowns’ patience

Rulani Mokwena praised the patience of his Mamelodi Sundowns side after they dismantled AmaZulu with a second half hattrick from Brazilian striker Lucas Ribeiro to win 3-0 at Lodftys Versfeld on Tuesday.

The win put them 12 points clear at the top of the DStv Premiership table and extended their unbeaten league run to 40 matches.

“I can also just speak glowingly about AmaZulu I think they were worthy opponents very structured, especially in the first half didn't give us a lot of spaces. And we had to be very, very patient and I liked that side of Sundowns,” said Mokwena as he analysed the game, which was the 13th win of the league season for the club.

“I liked the patience and sticking to the identity and probing and probing and probing. We did a little bit better in the second half with an extra touch, and not really releasing the ball too quickly. We've been struggling with that for the last couple of games. But we were better this time, especially in the second half. We held on to the ball, tried to release runners with a very aggressive 3-5-2 or 3-4-3,” he explained.

Mokwena said he was pleased for Riberio, who is now top of the DStv Premiership goal scoring charts after reaching 10 for the season.

“I liked his performance also in the last game when he came on as a sub in Champions League. The message that they're getting is they've got to score to play. And, you know, to score so many goals without Temba Zwane and Peter Shaulile also sends a very strong message for the competition for places.”