Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro says they know why they couldn’t keep up with Mamelodi Sundowns in the DStv Premiership this season after winning the MTN8.
Having won the opening domestic competition of the season and beating Sundowns 3-0 en route to the final against AmaZulu, there were suggestions that the new head coach Riveiro could provide Sundowns with an adequate challenge for the league title.
But Masandawana holds a 25-point gap over third-placed Pirates with eight games remaining, as they are now mathematically out of the race as Rulani Mokwena’s side are set to lift a sixth consecutive league crown come end of the season.
“Obviously we are so far in terms of points, one of the reasons is, we have to accept it also, that they are doing an excellent job,” Riveiro said when asked what went wrong.
“I think they won 19 games, 19 victories in the league, it’s an excellent record, and sometimes it happens that one team is winning, winning, winning – one of the reasons we are so far. And then we do our own analysis, it’s not my role obviously to analyse why they are getting results.
“I can say that I know why we are far, obviously, imagine I said we don’t know, I do know – but I’m not going to tell you, there are multiple reasons, not only one reason – there were periods where we couldn’t manage the average points per month, per week that Pirates are supposed to get.
“We had a first part of the season, where without discussions, the better team in the MTN8 in every game but we couldn’t maintain the same level of performances in the league and in that period we gave an advantage to [Sundowns] that we couldn’t recover anymore, it’s a fact.”
The Spaniards said they are well aware of what fell apart for the Buccaneers this season but it will remain internally as we now focus on beating SuperSport United – who they host at Orlando Stadium on Saturday – for second place in the league.
“We know the reasons, we’re working on it but now we’re focusing on the challenges we have ahead of us which is second position, it’s the maximum we can achieve this season and at the end of the season we will have time to anaylse and realise the way we can reduce that gap, which is a fact already.”
Captain Innocent Maela reiterated the views of Riveiro and suggested that the platform created in his debut campaign is bringing about the excitement that they can challenge for more next season.
“From a players point of view, as the coach said, we were undoubtedly the better team throughout the [MTN8] and after that, we sat down, had team meetings and analysed why we didn’t have the same consistency in the league,” Maela added.
“We do know the reasons, we have been working hard on those reasons, we also know this is our first season together with the coach and the technical team, with this style of play, we’re building, we’re building something concrete that will help us in future.
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“But right now at this moment, our focus is finishing in the Champions League spot and making sure we compete in that space in the near future.”
