Sundowns coach distances new signings Santos and Reisinho from Ribeiro comparison

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has moved quickly to clarify the role of the club’s latest Portuguese arrivals, insisting they are not at Chloorkop to step into the shoes of Lucas Ribeiro.

The Brazilians unveiled winger Nuno Santos as a marquee signing from Portuguese top-flight side Vitória de Guimarães earlier this week.

Midfielder Miguel Reisinho is also expected to finalise his move as a free agent following his spell with Boavista FC.

Santos wasted no time in making his debut, featuring in Sundowns’ shock 1-0 defeat to Golden Arrows at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi on Wednesday. 

The result stunned the champions and highlighted just how much they miss the influence of Ribeiro, who was last season’s PSL Footballer of the Season before sealing a move to Spanish second division side Cultural Leonesa.

Cardoso conceded that Ribeiro’s ability to change the game might have altered the outcome against Arrows but was firm in his message — Santos and Reisinho are not like-for-like replacements.

“No player will replace Lucas because that’s not what we are looking for but we want to reinforce the team and every player has their own characteristics. Neither Nuno and Miguel Reisinho have the characteristics that Lucas had,” Cardoso said.

The Portuguese tactician went further to explain that Sundowns must evolve beyond depending on individual brilliance.

“Mamelodi Sundowns will develop to be a different team collectively than it was in the past. Lucas was a player that could solve problems alone and these kinds of games like today, he would have helped a lot.

“That is because when we were blocked, he would find a way but Lucas is for us a wonderful memory and a good friend but it’s in the past. We don’t relate with the past, we just need to understand how capable we are to welcome everybody and to develop the team in that sense.”

The midweek loss was Sundowns’ first of the campaign, and they have little time to reflect with Richards Bay visiting Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday evening. Cardoso expects an immediate response.

“We’re strong, resilient and capable of moving forward. We will do that and it’s good that we already gave a game on Saturday,” he said.

While critics pointed to a lack of intensity and creativity against Arrows, Cardoso insisted that performances cannot be judged solely on results.

“In football we evaluate differently, everybody will say that Mamelodi Sundowns played badly. They said in the last game that Sundowns played well because we won and scored three goals but I don’t see things in the exact way.

“We’re unsatisfied because we think that we had more than enough capacity to get a result here. That doesn’t take anything away from Golden Arrows but it has to do with the fact that we believe that we can do more. The game brought different moments and we couldn’t capitalise and score. In the end, you get punished when you don’t score.”

For now, Cardoso will be judged on how quickly his new-look Sundowns can adapt without Ribeiro — starting with Richards Bay on Saturday.