Rulani Mokwena has reacted after tasting his maiden defeat in the Algerian League 1 following MC Alger’s 1-0 defeat away from home against newly promoted side MB Rouissat on Thursday.
Kheiredine Merzougui’s 27th-minute goal sank MC Alger as the striker haunted his former club. However, despite the loss, the Algerian giants remain on top of Ligue 1, four points clear at the summit with three games in hand.
Thursday’s defeat came at the hands of Rouissat, who are seventh on the table. While this was the first league loss for Mokwena in Ligue 1, it was also his second defeat in charge of MC Alger.
The other defeat came in the CAF Champions League when they were edged 2-1 by Al Hilal. In the 18 games he has been at the helm of The Mouloudia, the former Mamelodi Sundowns tactician has registered 11 wins, five draws and two losses across all competitions.
MOKWENA ADMITS BEING STUNG BY MC ALGER FALLING TO ROUISSAT
“We didn’t play well today [Thursday]. It’s easy for me to digest a result like this because I think they were more aggressive, they wanted it a little bit more,” said Mokwena.
“They were fighting, they picked up the second ball, and when the opposition is like this, you accept with a lot of humility and move on. Maybe what hurts me the most is not the result. The result is normal in a season with 30 games. It’s possible to lose one or two away from home, but of course, in a big team, you can’t lose too many games.
“What hurts me the most is the performance. We lost a little bit of our identity, and we played too many long balls. But okay, this is for discussion when we do the review with the group, and we will try to correct it.
“But as I said to the players, we have to digest, accept and move on very fast because we have a lot of games. When we don’t have those [injured] players, and we win, I don’t complain. When we lose without the players, it’s the same thing.”
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