Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi admitted that his side had an off day as they suffered their first DStv Premiership loss of the season.
The Brazilians went down 1-0 to last-season’s runners-up AmaZulu with Augustine Mulenga netting the only goal after 75 minutes at the Jonsson Kings Park Stadium on Monday.
The result left Mngqithi’s side 16 points clear of second-placed Orlando Pirates and Usuthu in third.
Speaking after the game, Mngqithi told SuperSport: “I think it’s one of those games where I was never really impressed with our play, I don’t think we were incisive enough, I don’t think we forced the opponent in their back foot a lot.
“Many instances in the first-half where we get a nice diagonal half space but we lose immediately the possession instead of progressing our attack.
“But it’s a game of football you must expect these things, the truth of the matter is we were not at our sharpest point, maybe the previous game took a lot from us and losing Rivaldo [Coetzee] very early in the match had a big impact in our performance.”
Mngqithi added: “But in total we never had a very fresh performance, I’m not making an excuse but I’m just saying we were not at our normal level you’d expect from us.
“We gave the ball away for too long and I think it’s one of the game we’ve conceded a lot of counter-attacks, we normally don’t concede so many counter-attacks.”