Pitso Mosimane tears into his players after losing first match in charge of Esteghlal FC - 'My team is not mentally well, I have never seen a team so low'

Pitso Mosimane recently joined Iranian side Esteghlal and was in charge of his first official match on Saturday.

But it was a difficult start to his tenure after leading Esteghlal to a 3-1 defeat by Kheybar Khorramabad.

That left the South African angry and blamed his players for the loss.

"What can I say after this defeat? My team is not mentally well! I have never seen a team so low. Maybe some players don't realize how big of a name is on their kit. They should not play like this," Mosimane said.

"A playmaker midfielder? We have to start making changes, but the most important thing is the mentality of the players. Attitudes must change. This issue is more important than changing personnel. We have to bring players who want to win games.

"This result shows that we did not fight hard enough and we are not ready. We need to fight. What are these signs? Changes must be made. The culture is not right. We can change coaches every week and if they don't want to win, they will always have the same situation."

After having a slow start to life in Iran, Mosimane will be hoping his Esteghlal will not turn out to be like his stints in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

His last two jobs were unsuccessful spells at Al Wahda and Abha in what were blemishes to his colourful coaching career.

Following Saturday's defeat, Esteghlal are 12th in the 16-team Iranian league.

Esteghlal now prepare to host Tractor on Thursday and Mosimane will be hoping to pick his first set of maximum points in Iran.

Their next opponents Tractor are sixth on the table and pose a real threat to Mosimane's side.