Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has explained why he made six changes for the league clash against Stellenbosch FC.
Bafana Ba Style secured a hard-fought 1-0 win over Stellies to extend their lead at the summit of the Betway Premiership table.
This was a second win for Masandawana under the new leadership of the Portuguese coach who took over the reins following the sacking of Manqoba Mngqithi.
The Tshwane giants beat Raja Casablanca in the CAF Champions League group stage clash in the past weekend.
In a match against Steve Barker’s side, Sundowns came with six changes from their last outing’s line-up.
Cardoso explained that they aimed to manage player fatigue, and that some players were dealing with undisclosed issues.
MIGUEL CARDOSO EXPLAINS WHY SUNDOWNS MADE SEVERAL CHANGES AGAINST STELLENBOSCH
“Obviously, we changed players from last game to today. Some of them because we needed to manage the fatigue,” said Cardoso.
“Some others because they had small issues.”
Further, Cardoso says the team that they fielded required players capable of handling a fast-paced opponents like Stellenbosch.
He added that they want to believe in all the players they have in the squad.
“But the question here is how we believe in all the players. Obviously, they are in different levels,” added Cardoso.
“Some of them are young, some of them are more experienced. Some of them also have their own characteristics that allow us to cope with the moments of the game and with the different teams we are facing.
“For example, today we knew that we needed quick players so that we can control these spaces when we deal with long balls.
“So the question is indeed how much you can progress in the future. I think that we need obviously to be as much clever as possible to understand what is other team providing us on the game.”
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