Miguel Cardoso on Monnapule Saleng's debut for Mamelodi Sundowns: He is a player of high quality who can play on both sides of the attacking line

Miguel Cardoso is full of praise of the impact Monnapule Saleng made on his Mamelodi Sundowns debut against Sekhukhune United.

The former Orlando Pirates attacker created one of goals for striker Iqraam Rayners in the 3-1 victory over Babina Noko at Loftus Versveld on Sunday afternoon.

This was a long awaited debut for Saleng – who signed for Sundowns from Pirates via a loan spell at Betway Premiership side Orbit College – came in the 80t minute when the left-footed player replaced Tashreeq Matthews.

“Saleng did well. He’s a player who is high quality and can play outside on the right or left. You know him even better than myself,” said Cardoso.

“Unfortunately, I just started with him lately because he was injured, but he made a fantastic recovery. We never wanted to put pressure on his comeback, and we should still not. Obviously, he’s recovered, but he’s also getting conditioning and understanding what we want from him.

“He can play outside and inside, so don’t get surprised if you see him having different positions on the pitch. Today we needed to keep the structure, especially because [Khuliso] Mudau was struggling with an ankle and we could not expose him too much in attack,” he added.

“We also didn’t want to expose ourselves too much in defence. So we decided to operate him at the right moment when Tashreeq Matthews was already lacking energy. It worked very well for the team. I still have to review the game, but I think that was his action that led to Iqraam’s goal and very good execution.”

“I think it’s clear that teams need players who can aggress defenders. They need players to start matches like that, but clubs like Sundowns also need a bench with players who can do that at a moment when teams are tired.”