Orlando Pirates tick all the boxes as Jose Riveiro basks in win over Swallows

On-song Bucs and Bafana Bafana international attacker Monnapule Saleng scored a hat-trick and provided an assist as they registered an emphatic 4-1 win over Soweto neighbours Swallows FC at Dobsonville Stadium last night. 

Responding to SABC Sport’s question about the work they put into Saleng as a technical team, Riveiro says it’s all about how players respond to their methods.

"We try to create an environment and structure where all the talented players can have a space in our team. It's not easy to do it, it's something you cannot do in a short space of time, and at the same time continue winning," explained Riveiro.

"So we try to find the balance in between, understanding that the team we are representing, we have to get results at the same time that we are building something else.

"As I said before, we used to put our eyes – and it's normal – on the players that do the last pass and the last touch into the net, but we want to see them part of the whole picture and structure that will give us the possibility to celebrate games like today more frequently."

After losing 1-0 in the Soweto Derby last weekend, it was important for Pirates to bounce back as the fight for a CAF Champions League spot intensifies in the final stages of the season.

"I think [it was] a very complete [performance] in every department. When you score this amount of goals, it looks even better but we're not thinking about goal difference," the coaches added.

"Still I think we had a good night, we knew about the difficulty of playing here – if I'm not mistaken, I think they didn't concede a single goal here at home under the new coach [Ernst Middendorp], I think it's six games in a row not conceding.

"So, we knew it would be difficult and the key, in the end, is that we scored early and overall I think it was a good Pirates performance tonight."