Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena says he's surprised that he's more appreciated by top coaches in Europe than at home in the PSL.
Sundowns have received criticism and sarcasm of late by some coaches in the DStv Premiership for their spending power allegedly making it easy for them to win matches.
Mokwena has particularly won all the matches (seven, with only one goal conceded) since he was appointed as the sole head coach, including winning the high-profile Carling Black Label Cup tournament without conceding a goal.
Despite Sundowns' winning run, as they top the table by 14 points, there is still seemingly doubts over Mokwena's abilities as a coach.
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The 36-year old says he's not worried over criticism over his abilities, as he is learning from the top coaches in Europe.
"I belong to a WhatApp group where there's CEOs of big companies internationally, there's coaches who are coaching at the highest level," Mokwena said in a press conference.
"I'm learning, I'm asking questions. For as long as I have that mentality for sure the opinions of people for me will never, ever make a difference to the way I look at myself, how I look at the team and how I look at my work."
The erudite tactician went on to suggest that he knows people are quick to bring up his record as a caretaker coach at Orlando Pirates as proof that he's seemingly helped by the resources at Sundowns.
"I know that my record at Pirates would still be the first thing that people talk about before they speak about my record as head coach of Mamelodi Sundowns," he carried on.
"For sure and that's the truth, so it doesn't bother me. You know what is so ironic, is the amount of appreciation and respect from coaches from Europe.
"I'm on that page, there's a page called MÁS Possession, it's a page run by technocrats, it's based in Italy and they posted on their stories, some of the teams in the world and some of the coaches and they said, 'Teams that globally, play position, possession football' and you know where we were? Sundowns was there and because Sundowns was there, by default I got to be there," he added.
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