Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro says it’s a luxury to have the quality he has in his squad as they grapple with several injuries in their congested fixture schedule.
Pirates beat TS Galaxy 2-0 in a hard-fought encounter in Mbombela on Tuesday evening with the squad without Tapelo Xoki, Olisa Ndah, Monnapule Saleng, Deano van Rooyen and Patrick Maswanganyi due to injury.
But it hasn’t affected their form in the league, with six wins from six games, as Thalente Mbatha and Relebohile Mofokeng scored against the Rockets, with the latter, in particular, in supreme form of late.
“He’s contributing a lot to the collective performance like many of our players, we have talent and quality in every line, every position, it’s nice to see them playing together, interacting together,” Riverio said after Mofokeng’s latest stunner.
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“It’s a luxury for me as a coach to have this kind of arsenal, this amount of quality in the squad, you look at the names tonight, probably you missing some of our regular players, but the ones playing are showing accountability.”
Mohau Nkota and Thabiso Sesane are among the players who have raised their hand this season to compete in the Pirates starting line-up, which Riveiro admits is part of the rising level of competition in the squad.
“They want to show they are here for the team – for the club, they are committed to the objective we are looking for [the league],” he said.
“We came here with the objective of going back to Johburg with the three points, the most important thing in this current marathon of fixtures, games, training and everything, and so far so good.”