Three key stats
• Up to 1 March 2021, Pirates had scored the ninth most goals per match in the PSL this season. Both Baroka and Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila FC are averaging more goals per game than the Soweto giants.
• Zinnbauer’s charges have scored 25 goals in their last 27 PSL matches.
• Bucs have failed to score in nine of their last 27 PSL matches.
Despite playing a makeshift attack of late, Pirates did manage to score twice against Chiefs and twice against Cape Town City. They also put three goals past Maritzburg United in the Nedbank Cup, albeit against an understrength side with several young defenders selected
Orlando Pirates under Josef Zinnbauer have been an interesting side. They have had spells of free-flowing football and periods where they have been unable to score for love nor money. The side has had periods of looking impregnable defensively and games where they concede sloppy goals or make howlers at the back to shoot themselves in the foot. The coach has used a large number of players and, even with a streamlined squad this season, Bucs have used four of five players in every position from left back to right back to central midfield to using half-a-dozen different striker options, including Hotto as a forward and Lorch as a false nine.
The German coach has won silverware and could feasibly lift another trophy this season too. However, unless his side go on a crazy winning run and Mamelodi Sundowns collapse in spectacular fashion, it
ill b th fbig l so-rans in the title race. It doesn’t feel like the Buccaneers are a million miles off finally bringing it all together for a full league campaign and ending their title drought, but we probably aren’t any closer to knowing if Zinnbauer is the man equipped to do that or not. Whatever happens, the fans will want to see more goals scored and more entertainment. Zinnbauer has brought in a high intensity style of play, but having a philosophy of “intensity über alles” may not be the best strategy in a season compressed by the pandemic. As shown by Manchester City and Mamelodi Sundowns, a possession-heavy strategy may be the best way to win matches this season and not the heavy metal football of a Liverpool or Pirates. A few adjustments and getting injured players back on the pitch and Bucs can finish this season very strongly and possibly
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