Orlando Pirates playmaker Thembinkosi Lorch says belief is what they need if they are to stand up and challenge Mamelodi Sundowns for silverware this season.
Lorch, 29, has been sidelined with a knee injury of late after an impressive start to the season under head coach Jose Riveiro but the arrival of Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo and Kermit Erasmus on transfer deadline day bolstered their attacking options to spark real optimism around the Soweto giants.
Another notable absentee Vincent Pule has been deputised with aplomb by Monnapule Saleng in recent weeks and Lorch feels they have the quality at their disposal to win silverware but the belief needs to reverberate around the team in order to have the consistency to challenge for honours again.
“Firstly, we have a good team. We just need to believe in ourselves that we have a good team you know. We need to have belief as individuals too, that we deserve to play for Orlando Pirates,” Lorch told iDiski Times in reference to Gavin Hunt tipping them to challenge for the league.
“If we don’t believe that, there’s nobody who’s going to stop Sundowns. But first, we need to believe in ourselves, we’re a big team, and we have individual [brilliance] but if we don’t believe, it will be difficult for us to challenge [for titles].”
When probed about what needs to be done in order to instil confidence and whether he’s doing his bit as a senior figure in the dressing room, Lorch provided an example of one of Kabelo Dlamini, who has drawn criticism from supporters this season.
“I think you need to know you’re playing for a big team and playing for a big team comes with a lot of pressure you know, so I think we just… we just need to believe in ourselves. We need to believe we have the talent to compete for the league,” he explained.
“One of the guys, in particular, I always talk to Kabelo Dlamini, he’s a good player. I was talking to him and saying, you see you were playing with Neo Maema who’s at Sundowns, I was telling him you were playing with Neo. He’s scoring goals at Sundowns, he’s playing every week and you were playing ahead of him at Celtic.
“So what is the difference between you and Neo? The difference is the belief you know, you need to believe in yourself. That’s why I’ve been saying if we can believe more in ourselves, we can achieve more.”
Pirates face off against Mamelodi Sundowns in their 2nd leg MTN8 semi-final at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday afternoon (15h30).
