Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro says he and the squad accept the criticism of results in a period where they’ve scored 16 goals in five games.
Since returning to football in 2024, Pirates have played nine games starting with the 1-1 draw against Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld.
However, they dropped points in draws against relegation-threatened Cape Town Spurs and Moroka Swallows and lost to Sekhukhune United.
While they are on course, in the quarter-finals of the Nedbank Cup, with AmaZulu, their next fixture, the 12-point gap, having played three games more than the league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns have seen critics directed at Riveiro and his players.
“As I said before, I don’t speak about the results, I don’t think the players deserved to be highly criticised in the last five performances, I don’t think so, [but] results are results, we cannot stop getting results, otherwise we don’t progress,” Riveiro said when asked by iDiski Times about the criticism he and the squad have received in recent weeks.
“We try to always know where we are in this process that we’re having with this group, in this moment of the season, we’re adjusting our objectives, thinking also about the near future, we really know where we’re going.
“If there are critics about our results, we’ll accept it – when it’s time to be criticised by our performances, we’ll accept it and it’s normal. We’re in a highly competitive environment and we have to accept when the result is not the one we’re looking for, the critics will come.
“If we take it in the right way, it’s something that also helps you to keep going, to stay motivated and yeah – that’s what we do, and definitely, as I said before.
“It’s a heavy score, it can be something we capitalise in a positive way for the future in terms of trusting in ourselves, what we’re capable of doing. [I’m] not talking about seven goals but the type of football.
“But it’s now dangerous to think it will be a piece of cake from here, to think teams will fear us, so we need to be mature and make it count for the future.”
Pirates now turn their attention to Usuthu for a place in the last four of the domestic cup competition, which takes place at Moses Mabhida on Saturday (18h00).
