Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro hopes that struggling Cape Town Spurs, who were newly promoted to the PSL, do not wake up and get their first win against the Buccaneers in the Carling Knockout.
On Tuesday, Pirates were drawn against the PSL newbies who have lost all their eight matches since they gained promotion in the off-season. Spurs have had to sack their coach Shaun Bartlett, who led the team to the PSL but faced a serious battle in the topflight league.
“Spurs are going through a new process, with a new coach and new phases. Those kinds of moments play a role for the team. There is new motivation for the players and new opportunities for the team – sooner rather than later, they will start to get good results,” Riveiro told the media.
“It is always difficult to be new in the league, the difference between the first division and PSL is big and there’s a reason for that. I hope that they do not start to collect good results in this competition from us,” added.
Riveiro is also worried about the coming fixture congestion which will see his players getting little rest: “September, for the whole month, it was difficult and a very busy month. Mentally, we did not get the results that we were looking for – we had problems in getting results and in scoring goals, but we started October better with a final and with a good fight and added another trophy.
“Now is the best time to plan well and be accurate in our approach. It is a very important time because of the Fifa break. We will try to keep the momentum, so there is going to be extra energy after winning the MTN8. We will now go to a period when the schedule is tight and very congested – but in November, we will have full weeks to work and that is something that will benefit us. It is good to have pressure, it makes you move. That we won three cups in a row is nice – but is it going to help us to beat Cape Town Spurs? I don’t know. We start from zero, if we want to reach the final – we must really want it,” added the Spaniard.
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