Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has insisted he is not worried about teams playing in a low block against them despite losing 1-0 to Stellenbosch FC in their league opener.
The Buccaneers started the 2023/24 season with a defeat after going down to 1-0 at a packed Danie Craven Stadium.
Pirates dominated possession most of the time but couldn’t create many goalscoring opportunities, while Stellies used one of their few chances to score via Antonio Van Wyk.
However, Riveiro has insisted he is confident his team can open up defenses which will use a similar approach against them.
“I hope that everybody is going to play in low block against Pirates because most of the times we gonna beat them,” Riveiro said when asked by iDiski Times whether it was a once-off struggle against a low-block defence.
“It happens [lo lose], it can happen one more time, two more times.
“I don’t want to sound arrogant, it’s difficult today they were very much committed. It’s difficult to defend with the level of commitment that Stellenbosch did tonight in my opinion it was excellent.
“But, and this is not an excuse, trust me this is football, we don’t play basketball, we don’t play in nice places, sometimes the field is like this and you have to find a way to do it anyway.
“Today the field helped the team that defended the lead. We knew the one that is getting a lead is getting a big advantage. You have to protect the space behind yourselves and look for transition, they have fantastic players in transition.
“Stellenbosch is good team and to play here is not easy. We knew it and like I said, we have to deal with low blocks.
“You can see the celebrations, beat Pirates is a big thing, play Pirates is a big thing and congratulations to the opponents and looking forward to play them soon.”
