Riveiro looks to the future as he chases first league victory over Soweto arch-rivals Chiefs

Past results will have no bearing on what will happen in Saturday’s Soweto derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium.

At least that’s how Pirates coach Jose Riveiro wants everyone to view the scenario, dismissing any talk that his players will be under pressure to beat Chiefs after losing all the last five matches against their rivals in the DStv Premiership. 

Those five losses include the last two that Pirates played under tutelage of their Spanish coach Riveiro last season. 

Speaking ahead of the derby on Thursday, the Pirates coach insisted that there’s no point looking at what happened in the past and what matters for him is what they’ll do on the field on Saturday.

Like Chiefs, Pirates have had an indifferent start to the season, losing three, drawing and winning three, including Tuesday's match against Sekhukhune United in the league.

Riveiro said it was important for them to win on Saturday if they are to recover from their poor league form of winning just one match from their last five.

“We need to prepare ourselves for a different scenario. It’s a kind of a final again and fortunately we’re used to playing the finals [Pirates have won three cup finals in the PSL since Riveiro arrived at the start of last season], so we’ll be at a good level,” Riveiro said.

On how he needs to prepare his players mentally after losing the last five league matches against Amakhosi, Riveiro said his only focus is on Saturday’s game and he won’t dwell on what happened in the past between the two sides.

“But why are always talking about the past,” was Riveiro’s answer when asked about the past results and how they may have an influence on Saturday’s game.

“We have an opportunity to look to the future and we’re not thinking about the past. It doesn’t make any sense. If I think about the recent past in the derby we beat Chiefs in the semifinal (of the MTN8 early this season). Is that going to help me on Saturday? No.

“It’s (Saturday’s game) a different challenge, different group of players and different approach, different coach (Chiefs have a new interim coach in Cavin Johnson after sacking Molefi Ntseki about three weeks ago), so it’s (the past) is not going to help.”

The Pirates coach emphasised the importance of separating Saturday’s game from whatever happened in the past.

“We’re really focusing on today because tomorrow doesn’t exist. We’re focusing on what we can do today to prepare for the game better than our opponents. We’re going to have a rest tonight (Thursday) and prepare the team again tomorrow. 

The way to prepare them mentally from our side is to try to reduce the uncertainty. The game is going to be played on Saturday, but we can do certain things before the match to find ourselves comfortable in our scenarios that we have. 

“If a player feels that he’s well prepared the player will be more confident, and confidence in a game like that plays a very important role. So when they find themselves on the field and find the things that we told them in advance, they will be more comfortable and confident and for me that’s the key to this game.”

On new Chiefs coach Johnson and how they're doing things under him, Riveiro said he's already seen a few new things but still admitted it's too early to know exactly what kind of Chiefs to expect.

“There are certain things that are new, especially in the build up, players like [Keagan] Dolly coming back play an important role in the way they want to play. But still it’s early to conclude what the coach is looking for. They need time to develop their ideas and whatever happens on Saturday, I think it’s too early to have judgment or conclusion about on what coach Cavin in trying to do with the team.”