Orlando Pirates striker Zakhele Lepasa has been in red-hot form lately, and his coach Jose Riveiro feels many have been misunderstanding his role.
The 26-year-old forward made headlines on Saturday evening when he scored a hat-trick for the first time in his career in Pirates’ 5-0 thrashing of Sekhukhune United.
The Buccaneers, who are the defending champions, swept the Limpopo outfit aside to secure a spot in the MTN8 semi-finals.
Despite skying the penalty over the bar, Lepasa still managed to walk away with the matchday ball after scoring his third goal of the match with three minutes left on the clock.
Lepasa didn’t have a pretty season in the last campaign, as he wasn’t a regular starter in the first round of the season.
He spent the second round with SuperSport United on loan, playing 10 matches and scoring two goals. Before he went to Matsatsantsa, he was somewhat struggling in front of goals at Pirates, as he scored only on one occasion in ten games.
Therefore, many had a go at the Bafana Bafana striker, and Riveiro feels it was ‘unfair’. He says when Lepasa is not scoring, there’s a lot he does to contribute to the team’s success. The ‘Spanish guitar’ feels that people don’t understand the role he plays in the bigger picture.
RIVEIRO FEELS ZAKHELE LEPASA’S ROLE WAS MISUNDERSTOOD
“Nowadays, the striker [Zakhele Lepasa] is not only there to score goals, they do much more things, sometimes to create the space, to stretch the field, to fix two or three players in one spot,” said Riveiro.
“Then Rele [Relebogile Mofokeng] and [Monnapule] Saleng can have more time and space on the ball. But the fans, in the end, will always rank the striker depending on the amount of goals that they score.
“But I will invite them to also have a look at the amount of work that the striker is also doing on the field to make everyone play better. In the pressing, to keep our lines high, they’re the first ones to start to defend. So, there’s a lot of things in every position that [are looked at] when we decide who’s playing and who’s not.
‘IT’S NOT FAIR’
“I’m not gonna deny the truth, we all look at the striker as someone who’s going to score goals at the end of the season. So, you can add to all other things the possibility to put the ball on the back of the net. But never forget all the other things that he does on the field apart from scoring goals. Because it’s not fair.
“When other players who play in other positions are in the same scenarios of missing goals, ‘it doesn’t matter’. If it’s a midfielder or number 10 missing the goal, we say ‘unlucky’. But if it’s a striker, then we’re a bit more aggressive. It shouldn’t be like that, everyone must contribute.
“When you see a striker running to the goalkeeper and stopping one transition. It’s key, but nobody cares, and he has to do 20 metres to do that, but still, nobody cares. So, let’s try to have a whole picture always,” added the Orlando Pirates tactician.
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