Why Riveiro is unfazed by Pirates’ inconsistent start to the season
Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has explained why he isn’t worried about his side’s hot and cold run in the league.
The Buccaneers have played six DStv premiership matches so far this season. And of those, they won two, lost two and drew two.
Many, including Pirates fans, aren’t impressed by the Soweto giants’ start to the season as a team that’s been tipped to challenge Mamelodi Sundowns for the league title.
However, Riveiro thinks otherwise. He believes they are doing better than what the log is saying. He also feels Sundowns’ perfection makes it look like Pirates haven’t been doing well.
JOSE RIVEIRO NOT WORRIED ABOUT PIRATES’ INCONSISTENT START
“Orlando Pirates got 54 points last season in the league and you know much more than me about South African football but usually you get the Championship with 61 points,” he said.
“But we’re fighting with a team that’s exceptional, collecting points. And that makes it look like what we are doing is a minor thing.
“But we had an exceptional second part of the season in league in order to collect points, three, three and three and now we try again. It’s difficult because, in two months and a half, we played five league games only.
“We had disappointing results in Stellenbosch with a good performance, I think we shouldn’t have lost the game at home against Sundowns. But in the end we have the points that we have. We are better than what the log is saying.
“And you will see it soon. It’s gonna happen.”
Riveiro says they cannot be judged by “only six games” that they have played this season. He is confident they will start closing the gap on Downs as time goes on.
And while they have dropped points, he seems content with how they have been performing.
RIVEIRO CONTENT WITH PIRATES PERFORMANCE
“It’s six games in the league, are you going to do an analysis about our performance in the league after six games?” he asked.
“Be patient, there’s still a long way to go. Like I said today [Wednesday against AmaZulu] we collected one point away. We have to be always positive you know.
“It’s one point and it’s gonna help us to continue. This is not a 0-0 performance but it’s football and we need to try to avoid this from happening frequently.”
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