Orlando Pirates coach Milutin Sredojevic admits a weak point in his counterattacking gameplan has been found out by opposition teams in the Absa Premiership.
In Bucs’ last two games at Orlando Stadium – a 0-0 draw against SuperSport United on Tuesday then Saturday night's 1-1 draw against AmaZulu – the Soweto team’s counterattacking style has been shown to be vulnerable against opponents employing high pressure.
In both matches – unusually for a big team like Pirates – they began home games sitting back and counterattacking.
By half time Sredojevic appears to have established a gameplan to go at the opponents’ more aggressively.
The downfall of such a strategy is that Pirates do not instil authority from the outset and can be vulnerable early on.
And it also leaves just 45 minutes instead of 90 to push hard for goals.
Pirates‚ despite going top of the log after 14 games on Wednesday‚ have not won in five games at home‚ have one victory from their last nine games‚ and have drawn eight of their 14 played.
Sredojevic‚ though‚ believes such a conservative strategy is working for Pirates.
“Our strategy is working perfectly. The only piece [missing] is passing the ball into the net‚” he said.
“That is a work in progress and I’m convinced we will reach that stage where those chances will be converted.
“For us‚ there is no home or away. We feel at home at any place we play.
“However‚ opponents – especially recently in a league where every team researches the other – have taken the route of putting high pressure from the start to not allow us to come out of the blocks.
“When it’s like that it’s not easy to build from the back.
“But we still want to insist on keeping our identity of building from behind. We don’t want to kick and rush and play speed endurance up and down.
“We want to play our style. And with our style the opponent comes‚ however as the time goes they cannot last that much.
“At half time we recognise the shortcomings and strong points.
"And I’m extremely proud that the players are implementing that‚ and you have seen in the last two matches we have really come out of the blocks in the second half.
“And we shall keep that up because it is important the way you start‚ but the most important is the way you finish.
“I believe if the chances had been converted we would now talk a different story and be in totally different mood.”
Pirates’ remaining fixture of 2017 is against Free State Stars at Goble Park on Saturday.
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