Andries Sebola explains why Pirates are not league title favourites

Former Orlando Pirates striker Andries Sebola has explained why the Buccaneers are not favourites to win the 2024/25 league title.

Pirates played to a disappointing 0-0 draw against the little-known Disciples FC of Madagascar in their CAF Champions League in the opening leg of their first preliminary round clash in Mauritius.

The Betway Premiership giants dominated the ball position against Disciples, however, they failed to find the back of net. Pirates will have it all to do when they face the same opponents in the second leg at Orlando Stadium on Friday, 23 August 2024.

Meanwhile, Pirates opened the new PSL season with a 3-1 victory over SuperSport United in the MTN8 quarter-finals to set up a semi-final clash with Cape Town City FC.

The Soweto giants are on course to win the MTN8 for the third time in a row after winning the trophy in 2022 and 2023. They also won the Nedbank Cup for the past two seasons since the arrival of head coach Jose Riveiro in 2022, making it four trophies in the cabinet for the Spanish tactician.

WHAT DID ANDRIES SEBOLA SAY ABOUT PIRATES’ TITLE HOPES?

Despite turning themselves into the ‘Cup Kings of SA’ football in recent times, Sebola says Pirates won’t win the league due to a lack of consistency.

In the previous two campaigns, Pirates finished as runners-up to Mamelodi Sundowns on the league table. Downs have won the league title seven times in a row.

“I still see Pirates finishing second on the league table in the upcoming season because of consistency,” Sebola told FARPost.

“When you look at how they have been playing, there is no consistency. If you check the MTN8 match, SuperSport United was all over them and they only started playing in the last 15 minutes. So when you want to win the league, you have to dominate all your matches because when you are talking about a league, you are talking about a marathon.

“Even in their pre-season in Spain, they didn’t win all their friendly games, which says a lot about their consistency. So, I don’t see Pirates finishing beyond the second spot on the log.

“If they can work on their consistency, maybe in the coming seasons, they can start pushing Sundowns for the league, but for now, I don’t see that happening.”

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