Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has explained why he is not a fan of squad rotation, saying consistency in all areas is important to him.
Pirates are competing in the Betway Premiership and the CAF Champions League, where they currently lead Group C with eight points from four matches with the coach not fiddling too much with his match day selections.
Riveiro says consistency for him is not only about the starting 11 but also how the team plays and competes in all competitions, saying a lot goes into preparing players and managing them as well.
The coach also says modern day resources have also been helpful in that and he is pleased that he has been able to have the core of his players available and less long-term injuries.
“We know that consistency in so many things not only in the starting 11, the starting 11 is one thing but there are so many things we have to do consistently within the process,” said the Spanish mentor.
“Our intention is to prepare the players to play every three, four days and that requires a certain amount of resources to make sure that they are available for selection and then it’s my decision to see which one will fit better with the type of game we are going to play, what kind of a winger we need, what kind of full-back we need etc.
“I think I have said this many times in my two-and-a-half seasons here that we don’t believe in rotation as such. Like understanding that we are going to have two teams and one team is going to compete in this competition and then in three days is coming, it’s not going to work. It’s not working anywhere.
“So we try to keep our structure as much as we can, our core as much as we can and understanding that it’s not a science but it’s close because we have a lot of resources nowadays in football for us as coaches to be as accurate as possible, to know maybe when one player is already accumulating fatigue because we play three games in a space of eight days and needs rest before he gets injured.
“And there is some reflex during the process that will tell you that okay today Riveiro needs to rest a little bit. So that’s what we are trying to make sure that we have as much players available as possible and then try to see carefully what is the moment of the player and what we need for each and every game. So far we are doing well in terms of players availability.
“We don’t have too many long-term injuries right now. Some players are getting close to being back and being a problem again for me to select the right one. But I think the most important thing in the end is that the players are committed, everybody is making an effort to accept their roles at this moment, knowing that players who are not participating right now I’m sure in two months maybe you’ll be talking about them like crucial players for us.”
