Former Orlando Pirates assistant coach Harris Choeu feels his ex-club could miss out on the PSL title due to their tendency to take things for granted.
Choeu believes a few wins are making Pirates players believe they can beat anyone and that is why they are getting surprised by teams like Stellenbosch FC and Cape Town City.
Pirates missed the chance to move top of the league table following their surprising 1-0 loss to Cape Town on Wednesday, on a day when Patrick Maswanganyi missed a penalty, before Darwin Gonzalez scored the goal that sunk them.
Choeu says games like those are exposing Pirates’ weaknesses, claiming the players are getting carried away by a few good results to the extent of feeling the wins are guaranteed.
Pirates slammed for taking wins for granted
“Pirates should not have lost the game against Cape Town City, under no circumstances. Regardless of how good that team is, pound for pound they cannot match Pirates,” Choeu, who worked at Pirates for five years, said as quoted by KickOff.
“They should have proven to Pirates that they are not on their level. So, Pirates were supposed to win that game but their issue is that they sometimes win matches before they are even played.
“They approach certain games with the mindset that they will earn all three points. This often happens when a team is too accustomed to winning.”
Can the Buccaneers sustain title challenge?
It is something Choeu hopes can change quickly as consistency will be key if they want to challenge and beat Mamelodi Sundowns to the title.
“If they were facing Mamelodi Sundowns yesterday [Wednesday], I can assure you the approach would have been different. But now, because they have won some matches by large margins, they tend to forget to attach discipline to their winning mentality. Right now, they are losing that discipline,” he added.
Pirates have now lost twice in the league, leaving them on 27 points from 11 games, three points behind Sundowns, as they bid to win a first PSL crown since 2012.
