Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro says it is crucially important that they hit top gear on Tuesday when they host Sekhukhune United at Orlando Stadium before the big Soweto derby against Kaizer Chiefs at the FNB Stadium on Saturday.
This is because the Soweto giants are not in their best form at the moment. They were dumped out of the Carling Knockout Cup quarter-finals by struggling side Richards Bay on penalty shootouts at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.
They came to this game having also lost to Cape Town Spurs in Cape Town, who registered their first league win of the season in nine attempts.
As they lost to Bay, Pirates are without a win in five matches in all competitions, since beating the same Spurs in the Carling Knockout in the first round.
“It is very important, firstly because we are playing for three points,” said Riveiro, who when Pirates lost at the Moses Mabhida Stadium was the first time in his career as the club coach.
“We need points. We can play one bad game, (but) we need to play bad and win it – not being fancy like we are right now with 90 percent possession, putting the opponents inside the goal but not scoring.
“I value right now to play a bad game and get the win and three points, get a boost and go to the Derby as soon as possible.
“But we don’t want to do it that way. We have our own way of doing things, we try to win because that is important. It is important for the confidence of the players, it is important to our fans as well to be calm and happy with us, so it goes without saying the next game is important for us.”
Zakhele Lepasa, who was bundling goals on regularity early in the season, has been off form too but also troubled by an injury which saw him ruled out of Bafana Bafana squad against Ivory Coast in the friendly match in October.
The 26-year-old has scored 10 goals in all competitions, including four in the MTN8 competition which they won, but he has not scored since September when they beat Stellenbosch FC in the first leg of the Wafa Wafa Cup semi-final.
“I don’t speak about individual players, you know me,” said Riveiro when asked about Lepasa’s form if it is a contributing factor in them not being at their best.
