Underfiring Bucks need to buck up
Bucs need mental strength to stay in the zone
ORLANDO Pirates’ lack of intensity was an issue that cost them a victory against Platinum Stars‚ and which will be addressed in coming games‚ said Bucs’ coach Milutin Sredojevic.
“Micho”‚ speaking after his team put in a flat performance in their 1-1 Absa Premiership match-up against bottom-placed Stars at FNB Stadium on Wednesday‚ said Bucs also needed to pay attention to their concentration in critical phases.
Against a team whose confidence is low from not winning a game yet in 2017-18‚ and whose defensive structure looked suspect‚ Pirates created openings but were left with a sense that with more intensity they could have overwhelmed Stars. win 1-0 and immediately they score they draw back and defend the entire 90 minutes and win those games. So we need to make sure that we score because if we manage to get one in – they’ll start opening up for us,” the coach said.
Palmer said it was very important for them to get the result now “because in the NFD if you don’t get the desired results after two games – you are gone”.
Palmer said he wouldn’t deny the fact that he was under a lot of pressure.
“That’s what we sign up for as coaches but I won’t be distracted because my team is coming along nicely. [Sakhele] Nhlabathi will be back in the squad also, but we have to see what happens, because we also need to get a team that can expose All Stars and there might be one or two changes to the squad so we can try and break them.”
Palmer said it was unfortunate during their last game [against Royal Eagle] he didn’t have much players to choose from but now he had a wider team he would pick from and players had to prove themselves.
“It doesn’t matter who I play regardless of the quality, the players have to show their worth, so for me that is more important now.
“Coming from back-to-back losses always puts one under pressure, I don’t put much on the players because all they gotta do is to go out and get the desired results.
“They must not feel the pressure I’m under, because it doesn’t affect them because at the end of the day they will still be here.”
He said when playing at their homeground there was always an electrifying atmosphere and it was up to the boys to utilise that positive energy from the fans.
“They need to make sure they incite fear into the opponent using the support from fans and the opposition should be wary of us, as we are the wounded tigers at the moment. But other coaches might underestimate a team in our position and that would be in our favour.”
Thabo Matlaba appeared to inject the urgency in attack Bucs had been lacking slamming in a 46th-minute opener‚ but Pirates allowed Stars to equalise within three minutes through Bonginkosi Ntuli.
“I need to tell you that football is a game where there is no logical moment. Sometimes you progress in a logical way‚ and then sometimes you are slipping down. And such a day happened today‚” said Sredojevic.
“I believe that with the eight games behind us‚ with the performance that we had we deserved much more than the present 13 points.
“And I want to say is that the players are stretching all human and sport limits to give their best. However football is not about what you deserve‚ it is about what you get. And we got what we got.
“We have to bear in mind that we have been in a Fifa break‚ and it is always hard to come back with a competitive edge.
“And this first match back showed us‚ as you could see‚ that it is totally different playing friendly matches and training to being in a competitive game.
“I believe that we did not play to our standard [against Stars]. Selfcritically we need to look at ourselves.
“In football you have the critical phases‚ such as when you score a goal and then usually your concentration drops. And that’s exactly what happened‚ and we paid the price for that‚ conceding a goal immediately‚ two minutes after scoring.