Happy backs his Bucs head coach
CAPTAIN: ONUS ALSO FALLS ON THE PLAYERS TO PERFORM
Orlando Pirates captain Happy Jele has leapt to the defence of head coach Josef Zinnbauer, as the Buccaneers prepare for a Nedbank Cup last32 tie against Uthongathi FC at the Orlando Stadium today.
Jele believes Zinnbauer has done well for the Buccaneers since his arrival in December 2019, including winning a first piece of silverware in seven years for the club, the 2020 MTN8 title.
“Each and every coach comes with their own philosophy and we have to adapt to that. So far the coach has been doing well, we won a trophy under him, we can’t deny that,” said Jele.
“As you know, things have not quite been going our way in the DStv Premiership.
“The only thing that we need is more consistency, because we’ve been drawing, winning and losing games and not building on the victories.
“But overall we have been playing well, the effort is there. It is just...those mistakes that we have to fix. And the coach is there to help us,” he added.
“I think at the beginning of the year we lacked...concentration, the effort was lacking a little but we have to now show up and raise our hands.
“We (players) are the ones who have to play, it’s not about the coach. We need to push hard because we are capable of doing well – we showed it during the MTN8.”
Meanwhile, Uthongathi coach Sipho Dladla says they won’t approach this game any differently to other matches.
“We are playing Orlando Pirates, yes, it’s a big team,” said Dladla.
“But we are concentrating more on ourselves. We are not going to try to come up with something new, we are going to stick to our philosophy, to exactly what we have been doing in the past 11 games,” he added.