‘SuperSport have less points than they deserve’: Pirates coach Riviero

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has spoken about Gavin Hunt's coaching abilities and reputation ahead of Bucs' trip to meet SuperSport United in Sunday's DStv Premiership fixture.

As Hunt has returned to SuperSport for the 2022-23 season the Pretoria team have notched just one point from a possible nine to prop up the early table and says they deserve better than that.

“I think SuperSport is one of those teams which should have more points already if I think about the games they've played,” Riveiro, whose Pirates have collected seven points from four matches, said.

“The amount of chances they are creating in those games, I have to say that they're getting less than they deserve.”

Riveiro said he expects a tough match from SuperSport at Lucas Moripe Stadium.

“It's team with a coach who knows how he wants to play football. And with his reputation here in the country I don't expect big surprises in their approach.

“We know that it's going to be an interesting fight but we're going to try to improve from our last performance.

“We'll like to be better and be more consistent in the 90 minutes, try to dominate the game and get the three points.”

SuperSport will be desperate to register their first win of the season after losing against TS Galaxy (2-0) and AmaZulu (2-1), with their only point coming in their 1-1 draw against Chippa United. 

Fifth-placed Pirates are out to continue accumulating points and attempt to build some consistency. Their 1-0 away won against Royal AM this week was a second victory in succession having beaten Chippa United by the same scoreline last weekend, taking Bucs to two wins a draw and a defeat from four games.   

“Our aim is to collect as many points as possible. We're going into games always with the intention of getting the three points. We're not going to be a team that goes for draws — winning is the target,” Riveiro said.

“Again we're playing every three days and we're trying to handle each game with the same approach. I have said this many times but it's the truth — there's no certain number of points that we want to achieve.

“I have the quality players and they have a will to achieve. Our responsibility is to optimise everything and make it work together.

“The key is how good they can be together. It's not about one player or how good he is or anything like that, but is how good they can be together and that's our responsibility.”

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.