Orlando Pirates reserve side head coach Roscoe Krieling stated form mustn’t deceive football supporters when it comes to Sunday’s DStv Diski Challenge Soweto Derby.
High-flying Pirates will face Kaizer Chiefs this coming Sunday in the Soweto Derby after winning eight of their first 10 games this campaign.
The Buccaneers are coming to this game on the back of two massive wins against title challengers Mamelodi Sundowns – beating them 5-1 – and Magesi FC. Krieling’s side are sitting comfortably at the top with 25 points, five points clear of Sundowns.
Chiefs, meanwhile, have struggled to recoup the form of their title-winning campaign, picking up just 14 points from 10 matches – a run that included a seven-game winless streak which they ended last weekend after beating Polokwane City 3-0.
But the Pirates’ head coach stated that their good form and Chiefs’ bad form don’t count when both sides will meet each other in Sunday’s derby.
“Form doesn’t go into derbies,” Krieling said in the build-up to the game.
“They’ll be up for it. These boys will be up for it. So it’ll be a derby, it’ll be on TV… I also don’t believe we’ve been the best on TV. When we’ve played off TV, we’ve actually played our best football.
“It’s again about them learning the demands. You know, sometimes they’re playing the ‘hype’ of the game, but play the ‘game’. Again, part of our job is to mentor them to be better mentally and understand that this is going to happen when you’re playing in a 40,000 seater stadium, packed, you’ve got to be able to perform at those levels, and those are the pressures they’re going to have to be put under.”
Krieling also insisted that he is trying to treat the game like any other and that he is targeting a win to maintain their lead over second-placed Sundowns on the log.
“Everyone wants to win,” he reiterated.
“And again, if you look at the log table, if you want to maintain your position, where you are currently, I think we are [five] points ahead of Sundowns. So yeah, we want to maintain that. We want to be able to keep the gap as big as possible if we want to really stretch and go for the title. So again, number one, don’t play the occasion, play the game.
“For me, I don’t get pressured by which games. I think that’s part of being a coach; you enjoy these games when they come thick and fast.
“And yeah, we’re just going to go and do our job this week. Let them work hard now, recover, and then we go back to training and work again towards the game.”