NEWS: ‘I wish someone could play us like Arrows played against Orlando Pirates’ – Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena frustrated by low-blocks

Sundowns laboured to another narrow 1-0 win against the bottom-of-the-table Cape Town Spurs in a league clash at Athlone Stadium on Tuesday.

Lucas Ribeiro scored his 11^th league goal for the season from the penalty spot.

Not long ago, Mokwena’s men had to dig deep to claim a last-minute 1-0 victory over struggling Richards Bay FC.

At the same time, they were also held to draws by SuperSport United, Orlando Pirates, Polokwane City and Cape Town City in the league.

The Tshwane giants needed penalties to put away Young Africans in the Caf Champions League quarterfinals.

Only in two games they were able to score more than two goals and it was against AmaZulu FC (3-0) in the league and Motsepe Foundation’s NB La Masia (6-1) in the Nedbank Cup this year.

While Mokwena noted the low-block strategy employed by most opponents against Sundowns has made things tough for them, he said the lack of goals from their tried and tested scorers has negatively affected the confidence levels.

The coach said Peter Shalulile, who has been the league’s top scorer in the past two seasons, and Themba Zwane not being able to fire as they used to has created problems.

“We just have to continue working on it and hopefully we can get a bit of confidence because at the moment, with the long streak where Peter is not scoring, Lucas is not scoring, Mshishi (Zwane) is not scoring, it’s playing on their minds,” Mokwena said.

“We lack a bit of confidence at the moment, but I think it’s a phase that every team goes through.

“As I said, I’ve got to compliment my players because even in the difficult moments they remain steadfast and can see the game through.”

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Mokwena also admitted being frustrated by how other teams opt to sit back against them and only play on counterattacks.

“It’s so tough. It’s very tough. I was just saying to the players at halftime that I wish someone could play us like (Golden) Arrows played against Pirates, so open,” Mokwena said in reference to the Buccaneers’ 7-1 rout of Abafana Bes’thende.

“No one plays against us like that and gives us a chance to score seven or eight goals, but nobody does it.

“But it’s okay, this is what we have to get used to. (We must) suffer against the low blocks and suffer on counterattacks,” he said.

“You saw how difficult it was for us (to deal with counterattacks) against Richards Bay with Sanele Barns.

“You saw how difficult it was against Yanga with Aziz Ki and you saw today how difficult it was today with (Asanele) Velebayi, (Ashley) Cupido and even in the second half with the balls behind.”