Durban - Orlando Pirates head Coach, Jose’ Riveiro has admitted to not being able to explain his poor conversion after his men suffered yet another defeat against Cape Town City on Saturday.
The Buccaneers' latest loss means they've now lost three consecutive league matches after going down to Kaizer Chiefs before the World Cup break and Mamelodi Sundowns after the resumption.
The Sea Robbers' failure to score in the second stanza against City saw them extend their barren run in the second half of matches to 15 matches, a first in the club's history.
Spanish mentor Riveiro has expressed that he could not explain why his side has failed to convert the chances they create in the second half of games.
"There's no explanation for that, if you want to go deep with the analysis then we have to speak about the chances we create and not the amount of goals we scored," he told SuperSport TV after the match.
Darwin Gonzalez puts Cape Town City in the lead 👏
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) January 7, 2023
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He then added: "To score a goal is a complicated thing, today I think we did enough to capitalise on our play, it wasn't possible against a good team in a difficult scenario, but we competed very well."
Riveiro and his men are now eight points off second-placed SuperSport United and ten points from log-leading Sundowns and in search of their first victory in a while to continue their pursuit of possible CAF Champions League qualification.
The 47-year-old coach says even though Pirates are going through a rough patch at the moment, he still expects his charges to bounce back sooner rather than later considering the quality he has at his disposal.
"It's been a tough beginning of the season after the break for us, it's the second defeat in a row, we have to bounce because that's what the big teams have the capacity to do, we're not going to be an exception"
☠️ FT || @CapeTownCityFC 2 - 1 @orlandopirates
— Orlando Pirates (@orlandopirates) January 7, 2023
🥅 20' @DeonHotto
🎙 Goalkeeper | Sipho Chaine
⚫️⚪️🔴⭐️#Matchday #DStvPrem#OrlandoPirates#OnceAlways pic.twitter.com/l51AycVflG
The Soweto-based club has backed their mentor and has further reinforced his technical team with the appointment of Scott Chickelday as the striker's coach with the goals scored tally for Pirates sitting at 11 in 15 games.
Riveiro explained that the appointment of Chickelday should not be viewed as a unique position as football continues to evolve.
“It’s the way that football is going, nobody gets surprised when we speak about Goalkeeper coaches, for example. Football is going in the direction of specialists, who got to be part of the coaching staff like Benni McCarthy for example, pretty much doing the same role at Manchester United," he explained.
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