Reisinho and Santos not replacement for Lucas Ribeiro at Mamelodi Sundowns as coach defends the duo

Miguel Cardoso dislikes looking at Lucas Ribeiro’s departure at Mamelodi Sundowns as the source of their lacklustre displays this season.

Instead, Cardoso is of the view that players bring their own unique strong qualities in a team.

“I don’t like to individualise performances too much – I think we have players who could rise and not replace we don’t expect anyone to replace anyone but bring quality, we depend on quality, as coaches,” Cardoso said after yesterday’s 3-1 win over ST Eloi Lupopo at Loftus Versveld.

The questions like the above are simply because this season Sundowns have not had an individual player to influence a game like the Brazilian did.

The arrival of both Miguel Reisinho and Nuno Santos has largely been seen as replacements for Ribeiro.

“Our team have many high-quality players, we saw Nuno what he did in a very high level, Miguel obviously first match in this competition also but good pass something that we worked,” he said of the duo.

The Brazilians will travel to Algeria next week for a showdown against MC Alger, who are coached by their former gaffer, Rulani Mokwena.