‘You can see they are having fun’: Riveiro on Pirates’ rampant attack

With nine goals in two games it was difficult for the usually impassive Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro not to display some excitement about his dominant striking force.

Lethal Pirates scored five unanswered goals against Sekhukhune United in their MTN8 quarterfinal match at Orlando Stadium on Saturday night.

The 5-0 victory followed Pirates defeating Royal AM 4-2 in their DStv Premiership clash at the same venue. After Bucs began their 2023-24 season with a somewhat flat 1-0 away league defeat against Stellenbosch FC they have bounced back, hitting top gear very quickly in their next two games.

Centre forward Zakhele Lepasa has been at the forefront of Pirates’ glut of scoring, with five strikes in two outings, his hat-trick against Sekhukhune following a brace against Royal.

The dangerous Monnapule Saleng scored a goal in each match. The two players have been marvelous to watch alongside the influential young Relebohile Mofokeng, Patrick Maswanganyi and Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo in Bucs' irresistible attack.   

“So far you can see they are having fun. They are really enjoying playing together,” Riveiro said.

This time last season Riveiro had a tough time dealing with questions about Pirates’ bluntness upfront, which resulted in the club hiring a striker’s coach, Scott Chickelday, for a period last campaign.

Bucs' missed chances were a major contributing factor to their inconsistency in the opening half of the season and while they found a better rhythm from January to finish second, the gap was still a huge 16 points from champions Mamelodi Sundowns.

This campaign Pirates are showing their hunger to get out of the blocks a lot better.

“I think one of the small differences with the beginning of last season — because I think at the end of the season, we were pretty much the same [as now] — was the number of players who finish the actions in the box or close to the box,” Riveiro said.

“That gives us much more possibilities to catch rebounds, second actions to press a bit higher and that’s why.

“And of course, the forward players in the squad are very talented players. Obviously, after nine goals from two games I can only be happy but understanding that it’s not always going to be like that.

“We were very effective three days ago. Today we were very clinical in the first chances that we got in the second half, maybe more than in the previous game against Royal AM.”

Riveiro was also pleased Pirates kept a clean sheet for the first time this season. The coach highlighted the importance of being solid at the back as he believes that was how they won the MTN8 last season.

“But I understand it’s not always possible to score five goals in one game. Sometimes, you score one and you have to keep a clean sheet like we did today and it is something that also makes me feel very happy.

“When we managed to win the MTN8 one of the keys, though not the main one, was our consistency in defence.

“We conceded one against Royal AM in offside [in last year's MTN8] but then in the semifinals we had two clean sheets and also in the final.

“In these knockout games [it’s important] otherwise you need to be accurate upfront and that’s the more difficult thing.

“I’m glad to finally keep a clean sheet in the [third] official game of the season because we couldn't do it in the two league games.”

Pirates travel to Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium next for their league clash against Chippa United on Tuesday (7.30pm).