Jose Riveiro addresses Orlando Pirates' struggle in the League as compared to Cup matches

Riveiro was speaking to the media after last night’s 2-1 loss to bottom of the log’s Cape Town Spurs at the Cape Town Stadium. T

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his was Spurs’ first win of the season in nine matches and also Pirates’ third loss in eight matches in the league.

Fresh from winning the MTN8 trophy recently, their third knockout tournament success under Riveiro, the Spanish-born head coach looks at the difference in performances in these competitions.

"We experienced something different than in the recent games which is to be us, the ones who are chasing one goal. We are not used to concede those opportunities through that in the last game. We concede a couple of transitions early in the game against Polokwane City but today [Wednesday night] I think the feeling in the first minutes was different," Riveiro said.

"What we do in the cup games is exactly the same. We don't change the way of playing or our intentions but it's true that for whatever reason we are finding more frequent the goal. Today [Wednesday night], trust me I'm not gonna be happy even with a good result because it's a problem to start the games the way we did but we create more than enough to at least get a point in the worst case scenario in my opinion.

"But like I said many times, football is a scoring game, it's not almost a scoring game. You get nothing with the possession, you get nothing with the attempts, you get nothing with entrances to the box if you don't get the ball in."

The latest results see Pirates on the 13th spot on the log having played an equal number of matches but with only nine points to show, 15 points behind log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.

Riveiro believes there are still many points to fight for in the next 22 matches.

"Absolutely, for me like I said many times the league competition is the most important competition for all of us. For the team of the calibre of Orlando Pirates, the league must be the main challenge, the main objective, the main obsession for whatever reason there's never only one reason. There's always multi factors," Riveiro added.

"We didn't find the rhythm in this competition so far but still at least there's still a lot of points to play, to fight. Now our next mission is in the Carling Cup [Carling Knockout Cup]. We go on Saturday to Richards Bay and we really need to qualify to the semifinals and then continue with a game in the league with two important games. 

"It's gonna happen, this team is gonna find a momentum for sure. Today [Wednesday night] we have a difficult feeling to accept but it's also our test for ourselves in this moment after the last three results that we are not happy about it, to be critic, to understand that we must and we can do the things much better but no doubt about this group because I can tell you, they're gonna make it."