Manchester United first team coach Benni McCarthy has downplayed Orlando Pirates cup double, saying the Buccaneers have to do better in the league.
McCarthy himself can look back at a successful debut season with United, helping the club to lift the Carabao Cup and finish third in the Premier League, while they lost the FA Cup final to bitter rivals Manchester City.
The 45-year-old was sacked by AmaZulu last year March, which ended up a blessing in disguise for him as the door to Old Trafford opened after his Usuthu departure.
The former Pirates player also discussed the campaign of his previous club, with Jose Riveiro widely praised for his debut campaign in South Africa. However, McCarthy insisted the ambition of the club must to fight for the league title and not let Mamelodi Sundowns play in a “one-horse race”.
“Uff, it’s hard [to analyse them],” he told Robert Marawa on MSW.
“You play all year to win the league… So winning the MTN8 cup is great, winning the Nedbank Cup is also great, but I think the big one that you chase is the league.
“I think they’ve had a great season, but by their standards that’s not good enough. They’re supposed to be pushing Sundowns all the way to the wire. It should be a far more closer contest than what it is.
“Sundowns is a one-horse race in our league at the moment. I hope that the progress Pirates is making and the new manager with what he is doing at the club is that he can push to make the league more interesting than what it was, like how it was before when we had four teams always battling each other and it can go either. It’s almost always going down to the wire but the last few years has only been one-way traffic and that’s not fun.
“Every other team they need to raise their game to compete and make the league better than what it is. Now, after the first game they might as well hand the trophy to Sundowns because that’s what is happening.”
Pirates won the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup trophies but finished 16 points behind Masandawana in the DStv Premiership.
