Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has admitted that he can't take credit for innovations in the team because he's a "thief" and revealed where their game model is headed.
Sundowns, under Mokwena, have come up with tactical ideas that seem revolutionary in the PSL, like full-backs inverting inside to join the midfield, something that had not been done before.
The Brazilians, who set a new PSL record of 32 unbeaten league games with their win over Stellenbosch, always provoke tactical questions when they play, as many observers can't figure out what they are trying to do with some of their schemes.
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Mokwena says there is nothing new with what they do, it's just that he copies the best teams in the world
"It's nothing new, I'm just a thief. I steal ideas, I watch a lot of football. You saw (Sofyan) Amrabat playing for Man United (against Crystal Palace in EFL Cup), left-back and you know what he was doing? He was coming inside," Mokwena said in a press conference.
"Thomas Partey at Arsenal, right back, what is he doing? He's coming inside. John Stones, centre-back, sometimes right back, what does he do? He comes inside.
"So all these things you see us doing, it's just that I watch a lot of football, I watch a lot of Brighton (and Hove Albion), they do crazy things with the build-up, three and two, four and two, two and two and they even get to double pivot," he said.
The Brazilians did not have Rivaldo Coetzee for virtually the whole of last season due to a long-term injury but they brought him back to the line-up this season, playing him just in front of the defence, alongside Marcelo Allende and they pushed Teboho Mokoena a little bit further in midfield.
Mokwena says they do this double pivot so they can have balance in attack and in defence and that's where their game model is headed.
"If you think about a double pivot in a sense of a see-saw, if it moves a little bit this way, it loses balance, if it also moves that way it loses balance, so it has to have that middle ground that keeps the weight and that's the team," he went on.
"The double pivot is what you find now with Riva (Coetzee) moving into the next line, to give the team balance, so in attack you have balance, in defence you have balance, this is where we're going," he added.
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