Pirates’ Riveiro aims for another 15 points before 2023 is out

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has admitted it is unlikely the Buccaneers will challenge for this season’s DStv Premiership title as they keep on dropping vital points.

This is after the club was held to a goalless draw by Richards Bay at the King Zwelithini Stadium on Saturday.

It was a disappointing result for Riveiro and his Pirates charges, – the club has now picked up just 16 points from 11 matches, while league leaders Cape Town City are on 25 points, followed by Mamelodi Sundowns on 24 points.

Pirates have a long way to go to catch-up with the early pace-setters, currently sitting in eighth in the table.

After the tie against Natal Rich Boyz, Riveiro, who was clearly not happy with the result, will be hoping things get better in their Soweto derby clash against Moroka Swallows FC at Orlando Stadium on December 5 and in the rest of their games this month.

“We dropped two points (last Saturday), we move to the next one, we have 15 points to fight for until the Christmas break. That (break) could be a good moment for us to analyse where we are and why,” said the Bucs coach.

“If the question is ‘are we dropping more points than we would like?’, I think you (media) could answer the question yourself.”

Riveiro criticises the media

As much as Pirates have not been able to collect as many points as they could have, Riveiro still believes his team is playing well and says the media should stop analysing their results.

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“You guys (media) want to analyse the result, you don’t want to analyse the games. If we draw, we have problems to score, when we score three, we are in great form. If we concede three, we are not defending well. We are doing a lot of things very well,”‘ Riveiro stated.

Pirates will host Swallows, who come to this game at the back of a 1-0 defeat to Kaizer Chiefs on Sunday.
The Birds are fifth on the log having registered 18 points from 11 matches.