Augusto Palacios walked into Orlando Pirates’ post match conference with a spring in his step following his side’s 1-0 victory over Free State Stars in their Absa Premiership clash on Saturday.
The Buccaneers had just produced their second win in a row since he took over as interim coach following the departure of Muhsin Ertugral a few weeks ago.
The coach expressed how pleased he was with his team’s performance on the night, saying that they gave a good account of themselves.
“It was difficult match for us,” Palacios said. “They were an aggressive side to play against. We created so many chances, especially in the second period, which we did not convert. These things happen in football. It was a learning curve for the guys and we’ll have to work on those minor errors moving forward.”
The coach said a goal scored by Tendai Ndoro in the 22nd minute was a result of the shooting drills they’ve been working on in training leading up to the match. The Zimbabwe international fired in a superb shot after slipping past his marker with a brilliant turn inside the area, before slotting past Thela Ngobeni.
“Ndoro arrived in the country on Wednesday,” Palacios said. “We started working on our finishing from that day leading up to this encounter. That goal he scored was a result of that. I’m happy with the way we performed and the three points we were able to collect. It shows that we are on the right track.”
Asked how was he able to get his players to play for him in such a short space of time, the 64-year old coach said: “I’ve been at Pirates for the past 20 years now. I understand the culture of the team and how players want to treated. They do not want somebody who will dictate things to them and who gives them less freedom to enjoy themselves, either in training or in game situations. If you do that, then they are going to give you problems. You’ll start hearing all sorts of complains and silly excuses like: Oh coach I have stomach problems, or we have a funeral (at home), or I have a flat tyre, each time you ask them to do things.
“For this season,” the Peruvian-born coach added, “I intend to use the same methods I used back in 2012 when I was in charge here at Pirates. And that is to give players enough freedom to enjoy themselves in training and also on the field of play. This will get them to perform in every game they get to play in.
“And that’s what I want. I want them to work very hard for the team.”
Palacios, however, admitted that his side will need to be more clinical in front of goal when they take on struggling Chippa United tomorrow night at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (kick-off 7.30pm) in Port Elizabeth as failure to do so might see them end up losing the match.
Chippa are 10th on the PSL table with nine points from their eight games, while Orlando Pirates hold the No 6 spot with 13 points from the same number of games as the Chilli Boys.
The Star