Just what doc ordered

MAMELODI Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane refrained from "giving a prescription before making a diagnosis" when he was unveiled by the club a week ago.

The former Bafana Bafana coach was referring to the grim situation in which he found Sundowns when he replaced Dutchman Johan Neeskens.

But after two matches in charge, in which he has collected four points out of a possible six, Mosimane reckons his imprint on the team is in sight.

In his first match, the Brazilians played to a 1-1 draw against Free State Stars at the Charles Mopeli stadium.

The coach then faced the home crowd in his second game and guided Sundowns to a 1-0 victory against Black Leopards in Atteridgeville at the weekend.

"Four points out of six is a good start," Mosimane said. "Nice and easy progress. We are stabilising the team, but we are not yet playing well or the way I want."

The coach bemoaned having only a few training sessions to work with his new team, which was second from bottom of the Absa Premiership when he took over. Following Sunday's win, Sundowns have moved up to 13th.

Mosimane will for the first time have a full week to work without distractions before Sundowns' next match against Wits on Saturday night.

"I have taken risks in the past two matches. And it worked, but it is early to say you can see my philosophy in how we play in the starting line-up. We got the points, though, and we desperately needed them," the coach said.

Mosimane said part of the reason why Sundowns were struggling to win their league matches was because their star players were affected by the rotation system Neeskens preferred.

"The main thing is to get your best players on the park. You cannot have Pelembe, Laffor, Nyasha, Modise and Mphela sitting in the stands. When you have the best players on the pitch, you don't worry much about the shape. But you have a chance to win."

The former Bafana coach is also attempting to revive defender Method Mwanjali.

Mwanjali began the Neeskens era at Sundowns as captain before he fell out of favour and saw the armband being handed to Teko Modise.

"That was another gamble I took because Method is not fit. But the man is the captain of the Zimbabwe national team and has got plenty of experience.

"His combination with Alje [Schut] at the back has worked well in the past two matches.

"There are no excuses at Sundowns. We are a bit scrappy and every game [even in Mosimane's first match] Sundowns concede a goal, but miss their chances. I want the game wrapped up early," he said.