Pirates coach defends selection policy

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro defended starting with the same team that played away in Algeria on Tuesday as his side suffered their first league setback of the Betway Premiership season against Stellenbosch in Soweto on Sunday.

After seven successive league wins, Pirates were beaten 1-0, with Devon Titus grabbing a breakaway winner in the first half at the Orlando Stadium.

Pirates played with the same team that beat Chabab Belouizdad of Algeria 2-0 in their opening African Champions League group game on Tuesday.

“Now that we’ve lost, it's easy to have the temptation to say we should have changed, maybe four or five fresh players, but the truth is that the team started the game very well,” said Riveiro.

“We should have capitalised on our control in the first 20-25 minutes, and probably if we had got the lead, we would be here talking about a different result, I'm sure.

“I think the team was prepared to perform in a short space of time, in high-intensity games like the game that we played in Algeria and a game at home against an opponent like Stellenbosch.”

Riveiro said he felt the players were ready to go, although he did anticipate fatigue later in the game.

“We prepare the team for these moments so that the players are able to have the possibility to repeat the same level. It doesn't mean that we're going to do it always, because it’s not always possible.

“But today everybody was ready to go, knowing that probably fatigue would appear after maybe 55-60-70 minutes, and that's the time that maybe you need to introduce fresh players to keep the level during the 90 minutes.

“You hope to do it when you’re leading the game, not chasing one goal, like it was today,” he added.

“It was a little bit more chaotic in the last 20 minutes, trying to find at least one goal. But if I think about our performance early in the match, in the first half, I think the players were in optimal situations, so probably not really affected by the previous game that we played.”

Riveiro said the taxing schedule that lies ahead for the Buccaneers needed to be accepted and dealt with.

“We have to get used to this schedule, to this accumulation of games, and not complain about that anymore.”