Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro is adamant there are no psychological issues within the squad and they ‘won’t stop’ until they achieve their goals this season.
Pirates are currently on run of four games without a win after their 1-1 draw against AmaZulu at Orlando Stadium this past weekend – ahead of facing Golden Arrows in the DStv Premiership this week and Mamelodi Sundowns in their 2nd leg MTN8 semi-final on Saturday afternoon.
While the squad boasts some of the best players in the league, led by a coach who’s not only earned the trust of the players but shown real improvement in their style of play – results and notably goals have not come consistently within the congested fixture list.
But the Spaniard waved away suggestions there’s a confidence issue arising within the indifferent run of form and stated they are one-tracked in their pursuit of success.
“We’re using the word frustrated, even myself, a bit too easy,” Riveiro said when asked about the recent run of form.
“Frustrated is when you get dominated in the games, you don’t enjoy it. The players are enjoying playing football. They know what we’re missing, it’s starting to be like an old story where every press conference we talk about the same issues.
“So then it becomes a problem psychologically, but it’s only a problem here [in the media] no there. You need to talk about something and if you want to create a problem about these issues, it’s okay.
“[The problems] don’t exist, it’s not real, so they get enough information before and after the game so they can realise that they are doing things very well. So that’s the best way – we try to finish every game with the feeling we deserved to win.”
Having previously stated he should only be judged at the end of the 2022/23 season – he suggested the inconsistencies are part of football and with the work they are putting into setting their foundation, there’s no reason to be concerned.
“We deserved [to beat AmaZulu] and the players know that. So we didn’t get three points but we continue, we try again tomorrow, again and again, and again. So there’s no psychological problem about that, it’s part of the game.
“They did everything in order to get three points, but it wasn’t possible. We will never fail because we start over again and again and again. All of those words used, don’t exist in this locker room, in this group we know exactly what we want to achieve and we won’t stop until we get it.”
Pirates will be aiming to get back to winning ways when they take on Arrows on Tuesday afternoon at the Princess Magogo Stadium at 19h30.
