‘Season will mirror last’
Orlando Pirates’ versatile Abbubaker Mobara believes their poor campaign last season might have to do with the attitude of some of the players, who didn’t take their job seriously enough.
Mobara, who joined the Buccaneers at the start of last season, was one of the players brought in to help change their fortunes following a poor 2015/2016 season.
However, things didn’t go according to plan as Pirates’ 2016/2017 campaign went from bad to worse and the club finished the season outside of the top eight for the first time in the PSL era.
“Maybe last season a few of us were not hungry enough, we were too much playful. If we can change a lot of things with that, then I think we can start off and end well,” said the former Ajax Cape Town player, whose side got off to a winning start to the new campaign on Saturday, beating Chippa United 1-0 at Orlando Stadium, courtesy of Thamsanqa Gabuza’s strike.
The Buccaneers will be looking to continue with that good start under new coach Milutin Sredojevic when they take on Baroka FC at the Peter Mokaba Stadium tonight.
Mobara added that players at the club need to start taking their career seriously so that they can follow in the footsteps of former Ajax team-mate Keagan Dolly, who now plays his football in France.
“If you are a family orientated person you will know when to play and when not to play. If you are more of a fun times guy, you will be that fun boy and will just try to look for more fun times. The reality is that this is your work – this is what puts food on the table,” he continued.
“It is something you need to take seriously. For example, look at Keagan Dolly. He used to work very hard every day at training and it paid off. A team from Europe came to collect him to improve on his football over there. Maybe he will stay with them for a long time like Steven Pienaar and come back home when he wants to retire. And that is the reality that we footballers have to see.”
The Buccaneers will be looking to continue with their good start when they take on Baroka FC at the Peter Mokaba Stadium tonight. Pitso Mosimane believes we are likely to see similar scenarios unfolding in this new Absa Premiership campaign to what we saw last season.
The Sundowns head coach says he expects the league title chase to be intense until the very end.
Fresh from a 2-0 Tshwane derby victory over SuperSport United, Mosimane insists that as much as it is vital to take away points from direct league rivals, they also should not falter when they face opposition who they are expected to brush off easily.
Downs’ second test in the league is Polokwane City tonight at the Lucas Moripe Stadium. Kick-off is 7.30pm.
“The league is just going to be a duplicate of what it was last season. It is important to win the big ones and it is also important to win the ones you are expected to win,” said Mosimane.
The winning strategy is not a complex one, according to the two-time league winning coach. If you manage to muster your way around defending or capitalising on set-pieces, you are most likely to end up as strong contenders for league honours.
“Strong teams like Bidvest Wits and SuperSport are strong on set-pieces,” he believes.
“If you can deal with set-pieces and crosses you can always get by. That is why Cape Town City held on against Wits because they managed to deal with the set-pieces and the crosses. I don’t think it will be any different.”
Mosimane is pleased with his side’s start to the campaign, although they lost their opening game of the season in the MTN8 to Maritzburg United, and reckons once they hit form, they will be an unstoppable force.
“It would be nice if we continued like this because when the team get momentum it is not easy to stop. We need the team to become confident and score goals,” he concluded.