Kaizer Chiefs head coach Molefi Ntseki was understandably not a happy man after the Mamelodi Sundowns MTN8 clash on Saturday, stating that his troops lacked confidence.
The lack of confidence on the ball was evident throughout the game as Kaizer Chiefs only had 27 per cent of ball possession, compared to the 73 of Sundowns.
In addition, the Soweto giants only completed 240 passes, while Sundowns had 658 in a game which ended 1-1. Ntseki admitted that Chiefs should have done better in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-final but was pleased with the second-half performance at FNB Stadium.
And despite Sundowns being the dominant side, Chiefs took the lead in the 61st minute of the game through Edson Castillo, who walked away with the Man of the Match award.
The Tshwane giants hit back in stoppage time via a Khuliso Mudau strike to break the hearts of the Amakhosi faithful.
NTSEKI SAYS CHIEFS MADE SAME MISTAKE TWICE AGAINST SUNDOWNS
“We scored at the right time, unfortunately, we conceded at the wrong time,” said Ntseki during his post-match interview on SuperSport TV.
“When you look at the six minutes added, we were supposed to close the game down. “The plan was to bring in (Njabulo) Ngcobo and (Dillian) Solomons, just to close it down.
Just before the ball went out, we conceded. It’s a very bitter pill to swallow because we already had a plan to close down the game and go home with a win.”
Ntseki added: “I think we made the same mistake like with the league match against Sundowns. “We did not have confidence on the ball, [but] the shape was very good out of possession.
The most important thing was when you regain possession, where do you play, how do you play? “We had a situation where when we were defending, we were thinking about defending instead of defending and creating options when we regain possession.
“That’s what we corrected at half-time, where we said let’s have confidence on the ball. Let’s also make them work for the ball instead of losing it and giving the ball back to them.”