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Riveiro – We Are Not Gambling

Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro says throwing on inexperienced players like Siyabonga Ndlozi against Al Ahly was not a risk or gamble.

Ndlozi who has been part of the first team squad for this season was handed his senior debut for the club in the final 34 minutes of their 2-1 win over Al Ahly in Cairo, an historic CAF Champions League group stage game where they secured Group C top spot.

It meant they were now seeded for the draw of the quarter-finals but it represented a bold move from the Spaniard as he replaced Thabiso Lebitso in defence.

This adds to the likes of Relebohile Mofokeng, Mohau Nkota, Monnapule Saleng and even Lebitso himself scoring in the Soweto Derby after being thrown into the deep end by the same coach over his tenure.

“We have to describe what it means to take a risk, it would be easy, how can I say, if Ndlozi didn’t perform you would say it’s inexperience,” Riveiro said.

“And that is it – and if I play him, I am brave, it’s that so simple, He is ready, I am playing players who are good enough and they are ready to play. So where is the risk? And if it’s not working one day, it’s not that he’s not good enough or not ready.

“It’s just he couldn’t manage on the day but we’re not playing catch-up on the bench, we’re not gambling, we are not trying to see if it works. When someone is in the 20, it means he’s ready to go – it’s the first filter.

“We’re not travelling to Cairo after seeing people in the road and saying ‘hey come with us, let’s see’ – so that’s why I’m saying it’s not a risk, it’s a calculated risk – when you take someone to the starting XI and he’s not performing for whatever reason.

“But the players at Pirates are ready, they are good enough and ready. Eventually one day… it’s not going to be the last time that we’re playing someone for the first time and hopefully, things still work out for them coz they are young players, they understand what it means to play for Pirates and the pressure.”

Riveiro admits the media and public pressure on players at the club is something to be mindful of but he cannot take credit for an inexperienced player getting a chance and taking it.

“The number of people expecting you to be brilliant, even in your first day – there will be one day when one of these youngsters is not going to have a good game, it will happen and that’s normal, it won’t mean they aren’t ready to they are not working for it,” he explained.

“We have to be patient, Ndlozi came in [against Al Ahly] and he was brave, not myself, he tried to fight for the team, protect the result, to do anything in order to make it possible. We have to protect them, whatever performances come from these young players, take it easy on them.

‘Don’t put them up there because they survive or put them down because of mistakes, which is part of the process as well.”

Ndlozi will be hoping to feature for Pirates again when they travel to Kwa-Zulu Natal to face one of the club’s bogey teams, Richards Bay in the last-32 of the Nedbank Cup this weekend.

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