Ex-Mamelodi Sundowns defender not happy with the team's style of play under Miguel Cardoso

Mpangase is not the first person to complain about Cardoso's tactics, with sections of the club's fans having raised their concerns about the state of the team, especially on social media.

The ex-Downs player shares these sentiments, asserting that Sundowns are no longer the same team.

"For me, if I look at how Sundowns used to play and how Sundowns are playing at the moment, it's absolutely bad, it's bad," Mpangase told KickOff.com.

"Sundowns used to perform well in the Rulani Mokwena era. They knew how to initiate the attack from the back, with a lot of variation in the first phase of construction.

"In the middle, again, a lot of tactical movements, positional rotation, trying to play near so that you draw the opponent to come closer and exploit the space. But now at Sundowns, that is not happening.

"So, now when Sundowns don't play well, it affects even the national team. If you look even back then, for Bafana to perform well, it was all because of Sundowns players in the Rulani era, let's be honest."

The retired versatile player has also warned that the team's decline could impact Bafana Bafana, though he acknowledges that Pirates' current red-hot form has provided a silver lining for South African football.

"Fortunately, while Sundowns are not doing that well, Orlando Pirates are exceptional, that's why, if you look at our last game, there were a lot of Pirates players, and they managed to take Bafana to the next stage," he added.

"In the middle, again, a lot of tactical movements, positional rotation, trying to play near so that you draw the opponent to come closer and exploit the space. But now at Sundowns, that is not happening.

“So, now when Sundowns don't play well, it affects even the national team. If you look even back then, for Bafana to perform well, it was all because of Sundowns players in the Rulani era, let's be honest.”