Jose Riveiro on why he’s not fascinated by squad rotation

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has revealed why he is not fascinated by squad rotation.

The Soweto giants are earmarked to take on Stellenbosch FC in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-finals at the Athlone Stadium.

Ahead of the match, the Bucs tactician hinted that he would stick to the squad that has been getting the job done.

The shrewd Spaniard has one of the best-assembled squads in the DStv Premiership.

They are also competing in the CAF Champions League, where they have advanced to the second round of the preliminary stages. In the DStv Premiership, they sit in fourth position, having won twice, lost and drew one match apiece. That translates to seven points.

In particular, forwards Zakhele Lepasa and Patrick Maswanganyi have given good accounts of themselves.

WHY JOSE RIVEIRO IS NOT QUICK TO MAKE CHANGES

However, the tactician Jose Riveiro is not getting too excited about the number of options he has in all departments.

This is despite Bucs’ unforgiving schedule, where they have to travel for the taxing CAF Champions League matches.

The 47-year-old mentor reckons it’s in their best interests to ride on their player’s rich vein of form without making any tweaks.

“We change when we need to change. Not to decide if one player is going to be the number one in the league or the MTN.

“Do we need to refresh players and positions because we’re playing every three days? It goes without saying. But we do it when we need it, not that we plan in advance.

“We have to be flexible in our plans, although we have an idea of the positions where we are going to need a substitute or a player who didn’t play in the last match.

“We don’t do it in that way. For me, rotation is like you have two teams that you change. We are only one team.

“We want to use our players’ good form as good as possible and characteristics depending on the games at hand,” Riveiro said.

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