Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro says he and his players will never give up on the DStv Premiership title race.
Pirates have lost three league games in a row, which has left them in eighth place in the league and 21 points behind league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns – who have played one game more.
And a ahead of facing Golden Arrows in their first game at Orlando Stadium for 2023, the under-pressure Spaniard refused to state the title has been wrapped up already.
“Well I don’t know, whatever I say would be speculation – what I can say, we all go through different moments in the season,” Riveiro said.
“Some good moments, some bad moments unfortunately, that’s why the winner, in the end, is the one who manages to do it better when you’re not at your best.
“At this moment there’s a team which is getting a really big advantage with the other competitors and it’s going to be tough for all of us to even get close to that.
“Are we giving up? Never, no, no one – I don’t think that it’s only Pirates. It’s a competition, everyone there downstairs and these guys you see in front of you, if we have something as a condition is that we’re competitive people. We will never give up.”
The MTN8 winning coach stated the league rivals will also play their part and suggested that it’s not impossible that Sundowns could also go through a rough run of form as they have experienced since lifting the domestic competition title.
“I don’t think SuperSport will give up or Chiefs or anyone else. It’s a competition, we’ll go until the end and like I said there will be moments where teams that are in a great moment and won’t be later,” he continued.
“Are we going to be our best and reduce the deficit [of points] and maybe go into the last part of the season with more emotion? Let’s see… that’s the objective, right now [we must] collect three points [against Golden Arrows] and then move on to the next.
“I’m 100 perecent honest when I say I don’t know who’s second or third or fourth at the moment, the points are not there [for us to fixate on]. It’s just about the next game for us, get points and try and climb the mountain, but we need this three points.”
