Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has explained why Marcelo Allende is one of the most consistently selected players in the side saying the midfielder recovers quicker and thrives when he plays more games.
The Chilean has featured in all of Sundowns’ matches this season across all competitions including the CAF Champions League second round preliminary deciding tie against Remo Stars on Sunday in Pretoria. Sundowns won the game 2-0 registering a 7-1 aggregate score-line against the Nigerian outfit to progress to the group stage of the tournament with Allende playing 76 minutes.
Cardoso said Allende usually avoids injuries and recovers from games quicker however that’s not license to abuse him hence the change which also allowed the coach to give other players like Jayden Adams some minutes.
“First of all because Marcelo is a player like we usually do [touches wood], let’s believe that nothing will come,” said Cardoso.
“But Marcelo is absolutely injury free player in general. It doesn’t mean that we can abuse that. But we also know that Marcelo is a player that usually makes around 12 kilometres per match, which is absolutely fantastic. But curiously, he’s a player that can recover very easy from match-to-match and still play.
“I think that there are players that when they are submitted to constant matches, they decrease the performance. Marcelo is a player that when he plays consistently, he keeps the performance and when you take him out, he decreases it, because he needs his stimulus.
“Of course, now I think we have more players that can play in his position and keep the level of the team. Today, I decided to take him out, not that he was bad, but I wanted to give Jayden [Adams] and also [Bathusi] Aubaas opportunity to play.
“Jayden for some matches he was not lined up. That’s why we took Marcelo out but if playing week after week after week in general, people should understand that the team will show more consistent on the line-up.”
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