Former Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Brent Carelse has given his view on whether the departure of former head coach Rulani Mokwena will affect Masandawana.
Mokwena's exit from Sundowns came as a shock shortly after the completion of the 2023/24 season, where he won the Premiership and the inaugural African Football League.
The 37-year-old tactician, however, came short in the CAF Champions League, after defeat over two legs by the 1-0 scoreline against Esperance de Tunis in the semi-finals.
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The Tshwane giants cited Mokwena did not meet certain obligations and expectations set by the club as the reason for parting ways with him, although widespread reports had already broke that he allegedly had a fallout with Sporting Director Flemming Berg.
The former Orlando Pirates coach was close to most players at Sundowns and his departure raised concerns that the players at The Brazilians as a team could be affected, in one or another.
Manqoba Mngqithi, who was installed as the new head coach, has already changed the style of play Masandawana and eyebrows were raised in his first official match in that capacity after they scraped a 1-0 win over Polokwane City in the MTN8 quarter-finals, via an own goal by Thabang Mutuludi in extra-time.
However, Carelse has suggested it's too early to tell if the departure of Mokwena will affect Sundowns.
"I'm not sure hey, because I know they only beat Polokwane 1-0 but if you look at that match, you could see there's a difference a little bit, the amount of chances they created, I think shots on at goal was 14 or something like that [24]," Carelse told Soccer Laduma.
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"Yes, there's a little bit of change but I don't think it has affected Sundowns. Maybe as the season goes on we'll see. But I liked what I saw when they played against Polokwane.
"Rulani has done a fantastic job at Sundowns. I think he has done very well and he deserves to go to those big leagues where he can follow Pitso ['s footsteps] you know," the former box-to-box midfielder said.
"I think Rulani has got the potential to even go further and hopefully one day we can see him in the Premier League, Bundesliga or Serie A, because he's a very good coach," Carelse added.
