Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro admits that their thorough homework on Kaizer Chiefs aided them to nullify their rivals, adding that it’s not easy for any team to play Bucs right now.
The Buccaneers claimed maximum points and the Soweto Derby bragging rights courtesy of Patrick Maswangwani’s panenka penalty as the last kick of the match which saw them narrowly beat Amakhosi 1-0 at a sold-out FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Spanish mentor reckoned that with Chiefs still trying to find their foot in terms of playing personnel and style it helped them to thwart any threat that was coming their way.
“I’m quite convinced about the fairness of the result,” Riveiro told the media.
“Actually, when we have an opportunity to have a look of the [Chiefs] starting 11, on paper it looks quite a starting 11 capable to keep periods of possession also against us with the presence of [Samkelo] Zwane in the starting 11.
“It’s difficult to predict right now the intention of Kaizer Chiefs. We were obviously doing our job. It’s a team that for many different reasons was looking and still looking for the best shape for them. The best players especially in the left-hand side.
“We knew the starting 11 will tell us somethings about the intention of the coach for this game.
“It’s true that TT [Thatayaone Ditlhokwe] and [Njabulo] Blom were not really deep in the sides but players like Pule [Mmodi], Mduduzi [Shabalala], Ranga [Chivaviro], I think we nullified quite okay their intetions to play from the second balls.
“They were trying to play leaving [Nkosinathi] Sibisi and Pepe [Thabiso Sesane] without reference, pinning our full-backs with Mmodi and Shabalala and dropping with Ranga and with [George] Matlou forcing Pepe or Sibisi all the time to step a little bit far from the last line. It was not easy to defend that action. It was well elaborated.
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“But it’s not easy to play against Pirates right now for anyone.
“I think little by little we managed to put the game in the spaces where we like, where we like to spend the time and it wasn’t easy for Chiefs to manage with the subs of [Gaston] Sirino, Obrigado [Mfundo Vilakazi]. With Yusuf [Maart] as well, I think they got a little bit of quality and pace in the last line.
“Still, I think we managed to impose ourselves for most parts of the game.”