Pitso Mosimane (Gallo Images)
Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Pitso Mosimane says he warned his players about Baroka’s set-piece prowess but added that he is not interested in making excuses.
The Brazilians had a gilt-edged opportunity to take top spot in the Absa Premiership from Kaizer Chiefs, following their 1-0 defeat to Bidvest Wits.
However, the Chloorkop outfit conceded from a Baroka set-piece on Sunday and went on to lose by a 1-0 margin themselves.
“What can I say, one mistake we got punished there, we didn’t mark in the box and a free header there, it’s unbelievable,” Mosimane said, as quoted by Times Live.
“I warned them a few days ago and I said, ‘you have defended set pieces in the (Caf) Champions League’. I mean it has been a long time since we conceded direct from a corner. And I told them to say don’t underestimate them because they are big boys also.
“I said if we can work hard on corners and set pieces against a team that is very strong on set pieces in the league, that has scored about 24 or 25 goals from set pieces.”
Mosimane also wanted to make it clear that he will not make excuses for his team’s performance because they did not take their chances and failed to deal with Baroka’s corner kick in the 20th minute.
“You see when football happens and results don’t come right, I’m the guy who does not want to make excuses on why we did not win. We did not win because we did not take our chances. We did not win because we did not mark in the box from a corner,” added Mosimane.
“Whether they knew or they did not know the results (of the Chiefs match), hindsight is the best sight to be honest. We can always speak about it but I don’t know whether it changed their mood or not.
“I can’t be going through players’ phones and digging in all the players’ phones and say they must not know what happened. They also have a vested interest to know what happened. So I don’t like making excuses because we lost.”
– TEAMtalk media
