Orlando Pirates assistant coach, Rhulani Mokoena, has made a confusing statement, ahead of Saturday’s Soweto derby against bitter rival Kaizer Chiefs at the FNB Stadium.
He says Pirates’ focus is not on the ABSA Premiership title.
The Soweto giants, who are second on the log, just want to improve on 2017 performance and they already have more points than the 2016-2017 season.
Orlando Pirates will be proud of the improvement made thus far; the team accumulated a total of 33 points in the 2016 and 2017 season.
In the current campaign they have already surpassed that figure. The Bucs tacticians are pleased with that progress as they are busy rebuilding the team.
Mokoena says: “When you have to build a game model you have other technical elements that you have to consider and that’s where we are and it’s not going to happen in one season. It needs a little bit of time, at the same time we understand that the supporters want results.”
Pirates’ win against Chippa United took them to 36 points with eight matches remaining.
However, Mokoena does not think his side deserves to be in second place on the log with that number of points.
“We don’t want to fall in a false sense of security and think we are title contenders we are strong and yet the reality of the situation is that we have only improved by 3% in relation to where you were last season.”
Although they might not have ambitions of a league title – a win on Saturday against Kaizer Chiefs remains important.
The team is in a good position to secure a spot in one of the CAF competitions.
Pirates showed character in their last match against Chippa on Sunday and it’s the same attitude they will require against their biggest rivals.
