Mamelodi Sundowns' coach Manqoba Mngqithi was full of praise for the strides Kaizer Chiefs have made under coach Nasreddine Nabi, despite going 2-1 down to the Brazilians at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
The defeat was Chiefs' first in their opening three league games having won their first two against Marumo Gallants and AmaZulu.
Amakhosi troubled Sundowns with their transition and diagonal balls that stretched their slow centrebacks.
Ranga Chivaviro, who found the back of the net for Amakhosi before Sundowns' Lucas Ribeiro and Iqraam Rayners responded, had enough chances to help Chiefs win the match.
But the forward, who has score two goals in his last three matches, lacked the killer instinct - letting Sundowns off the hook.
Amakhosi fared better against the Brazilians like they did when they last met in May last season under coach Cavin Johnson.
READ| Sundowns show Chiefs the leaps they still need to take to return to the top
Sundowns' B-team humiliated Chiefs 5-1, and to make things worse that triumph saw the Brazilians win the league for a seventh season in a row.
The Soweto giants made a number of notable changes to remedy the situation. Nabi was appointed as coach, and he came with his own technical team.
Chiefs also strengthened their squad, signing players like Fiacre Ntwari, Bradley Cross, Rushwin Dortley, Inacio Miguel, Gaston Sirino, Njabulo Blom and Bongani Sam. Only Sam, who is injured, didn't feature against Sundowns - with the new signings stepping in and changing the club's fortunes.
"The team looks very good," said Mngqithi.
"It looks refreshed, energised and the structure that coach Nabi is playing with is very potent. It is very difficult for teams to understand. He has a front three that is cheating (by
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