Pirates coach Ertugral looking to draw inspiration from Man City counterpart Guardiola

Orlando Pirates coach Muhsin Ertugral says he is taking inspiration from Pep Guardiola as he seeks to organise his new team around his tactical plans.

“I read some nice words from Guardiola last week when he said technical and tactical issues in his new job (at Manchester City) would usually take very long to settle‚" Ertugral said.

"But with passion and effort it won’t take long. That is also our situation.

“At Pirates the expectations are very high. But I think I have a good squad. I need to know the players better. And we need to find a second and third system (of play).”

Ertugral’s comments came after an away 2-1 win at Ajax Cape Town on Tuesday where Tendai Ndoro scored both goals to keep up a 100 percent start to the league campaign.

The new Bucs coach‚ mandated to bring trophies to the club after two barren seasons‚ said he had two problem situations he was still trying to solve.

“When we win the ball back‚ what are we doing with it? How are we going to use it? Also when we lose the ball‚ our defensive organisation is a bit problematic. The defensive line drops back unnecessarily.”

Ertugral suggested he was still looking for a midfield partner for Oupa Manyisa‚ a situation not helped by an injury to preferred candidate Gladwin Shitolo.

Against Ajax on Tuesday he put Edwin Gyimah in the middle‚ pushing him forward from his usual central defensive slot‚ but changed it at half-time when he took the tired-looking Ghanaian off.

Abbubakar Mobara is another option in midfield although Ertugral started him at right back‚ the position he played in for Bafana Bafana last week.

Pirates next meet Cape Town City next week at home‚ a match Ertugral said he was looking forward to as City’s squad was made up of the bulk of his old players from Mpumalanga Black Aces.

- TMG Digital