New Orlando Pirates DDC coach Roscoe Krieling has shared his mandate and a target set out by the club after taking over from Joseph Makhanya.
Krieling joined the Buccaneers after his former side SuperSport United were purchased by Siwelele FC, who later moved the club to Bloemfontein.
Pirates reserves played a DDC match for the first time under his leadership last week, drawing 3-3 with Durban City at Mpumalanga Stadium in Hammarsdale.
Krieling has revealed that having won the DDC in the 2022/23 season as an assistant coach with SuperSport, “the plan” with Pirates is to compete for the title this season.
He stated that producing more players for the first team also remains a key part of their project, continuing a long-standing club tradition.
“Look, obviously, I have won the tournament with SuperSport United. It is the plan that we can try to compete and go as far as possible. We would like to, like I said, it’s a new team, so there’s a lot of work to do, and a lot of game maturity has to come,” said Krieling.
“I don’t think players understand how difficult the DDC league is actually. I find it to be very tactical. Coaches are quite tactically smart in the DDC.
“So, it’s an adjustment from being found in rural areas, and playing in your Kasi teams, and coming into this big stage, it takes time and that’s normal.
“I think, you’ll see the better part of this team in six months’ time, in January, once they’ve really gone through the first 14 games, then you’re going to see, ‘Oh, now they’re tactically smart’. For now, it’s to pick up as many points as possible in the first round of games. I think that’s the important part.
“And how we do it, we still want to play attractive football. I think if you watch the second half [against Durban City], it puts off pieces of the first half. There was attractive football, and that’s the Pirates’ DNA, the Pirates’ style of play. We know we have to excite the fans as well.”
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