Zinnbauer takes it one game at a time

Since taking over the reins at Orlando Pirates in December last year, Josef Zinnbauer (right) has enjoyed a good run at the club, which has continued into this season.

Pirates were struggling when the German-born mentor took over, but he managed to steer the club to a third place finish at the end of last season.

The Buccaneers are on a seven-game unbeaten run in all competitions so far this campaign, a run which also sees them having reached the final of the MTN8.

But, Zinnbauer doesn’t want to get ahead of himself and is not thinking about what lies ahead for the club.

He is adopting a match-bymatch approach and that remains important for him and his charges ahead of their clash with Baroka FC at the Orlando Stadium tomorrow.

“Orlando Pirates is a big club in Africa, we know that. We have to work on different points with what we have to improve the squad. The past is not important for me, but we are happy. Last season no-one trusted and believed that we would get out of 12th place,” said the Bucs mentor.

“We ended up in third place and now we are playing international football (the Caf Confederation Cup). Pirates is a big club and all supporters, players and coaches are hungry for titles. We want to take forward steps and then we will fight for trophies. But it’s not so easy, just a case of working from one game to the next.”

Zinnbauer added that the absence of supporters at the stadiums due to Covid-19 still made it a bit hard for them and the rest of the clubs.

“It’s a difficult time for us without supporters, this is the 12th man on the field. Our supporters are so beautiful and they give us support. We miss their support. But it’s not easy for any clubs in these corona(virus) times.”