Downs running on empty

A month of woes for Absa Premiership defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns has left coach Pitso Mosimane questioning the lack of self-belief in his team.

After a 1-0 defeat in the Telkom Knockout semifinal on Sunday to Platinum Stars - a side that has made a habit of beating the Brazilians - h e said his biggest challenge was to help his men regroup.

He has guided Sundowns to one victory in their last four matches, once again angering the club's typically unruly fans, who demanded answers after the loss to Dikwena at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.

"It's the same story of missing chances every time. We talk about these things and you think the players are experienced enough to address them on the pitch, but you can't keep motivating. Something has to click. It is also not the strikers, it is the technique that they use and not having confidence.

"You have to understand how frustrating it is for us coaches, but we have to take responsibility because the buck stops with me.

"I have to bring the players back because they are down now. This is also frustrating for the fans who travel all the way to watch us, Stars had one chance and scored."

Mosimane, who has been a fan of the international breaks earlier in the season, now sees the Premier League pause over the next 10 days until Sundowns are back on the pitch as a double-edged sword.

"Sometimes you don't want it to come because you want to win quickly and be back up as soon as possible. But now the stress continues," he said.

Perhaps more bizarre than Sundowns' penchant for signing almost every talented PSL player is their selection of which players they are willing to let go on loan.

One could write a book about these players who are shipped off on loan. It could also be as thick as the anthology you'd compile on players whose careers have stalled at Chloorkop.

Dove Wome - the beacon of Gordon Igesund's debonair attacking style at Supersport United - has followed in the long line of Sundowns players deemed surplus to requirements who have shone at rival clubs during loan spells.

The 23-year-old Togo international made it three goals in three Telkom Knockout games when Supersport beat Orlando Pirates 2-0 at the weekend, adding to finishes that saw off Wits and Free State Stars in previous rounds.

That on-loan forward Eleazar Rodgers scored Dikwena's winner on Saturday will also rub salt into the wound. It is a peculiarity that dates back to the days of Sandile "AK-47" Ndlovu, who found it easier to fire bullets for loan club Dynamos than the Brazilians.

Former Supersport United marksman Glen Salmon said although Sundowns might rue letting Wome switch to cross-town rivals United, he might not have fitted Mosimane's plans for the season.

"Sundowns have a lot of players to select from, so it boils down to what type of player the coach wants and what his feelings are towards that player," Salmon said.

"You loan a player out and all of a sudden they set the world alight - it often goes like that. Sundowns could be thinking they need a player in Wome's kind of form but they let him go for a reason.

"Sometimes you struggle when you switch clubs, as Wome did from Stars to Sundowns, but there is nothing wrong with going to Supersport to get back to your form of old and taking it a step further."