Rulani: I've got to do what I'm paid to do

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has explained his decision to make a double change at halftime in the Tshwane Derby.

The Brazilians reclaimed top spot and set a new PSL record of nine consecutive victories from the start of the season courtesy of first-half goals from Peter Shalulile and Lucas Ribeiro Costa.

Mokwena said he had to start managing the load on players at half-time, as they are set to play ten games between now and the end of the year.

 Downs back on top after Tshwane Derby victory

"Congratulations to Mamelodi Sundowns, congratulations to the supporters, important to win the derby, congratulations to the technical team, a lot of hard work put in and congratulations once again to this group of players, magnificent," Mokwena told SuperSport TV.

"Ja, I had to, what are you gonna do, I had to manage the squad you know. I can't complain about injuries, I can't complain about the number of games. I've got to do what I'm paid to do, which is to find solutions.

"And sometimes I have to take precautionary measures. I make changes at halftime based on the fact that I'm trying to protect some players. We've got ten games, now we've got nine, other teams have got only four games, so load management and player management is gonna become so important," he said.

"So that's one of the reasons we had to make changes but very proud of the players but we missed so many chances. It's crazy Lebo (Maboe) had two, Peter two and could be six you know. We're creating a lot of chances but I'm happy we're creating the chances.

"We're dominating, it's a difficult team this. I said even before coach Gavin has got the experience, he has won so many trophies, so we got to respect them and we got to be proud that we've done