Tinkler defends one striker decision Orlando Pirates caretaker coach Eric Tinkler has defended his decision to play with only one striker against Kaizer Chiefs during their 2-0 Soweto Derby loss on Saturday. Pirates have been playing with only one striker since the beginning of the season, yet their system seemed to backfire against Amakhosi at the FNB Stadium as Lehlohonolo Majoro looked isolated upfront with Oupa Manyisa, who was expected to play behind the striker, spending most of his time deep in midfield. However Tinkler believes that playing with two strikers was not going to work against the high-flying League leaders. “I dont think the problem is the fact we are playing with one striker. Even if we played with two strikers against Chiefs we would have still struggled to link up play,” said the Buccaneers stand-in manager. “In fact Oupa was playing a lot closer to Majoro. At half time I told Oupa and Majoro that they needed to get closer to the midfield so that we can keep possession of the ball. “One of our strengths at Pirates is to play the ball and keeping a lot of possession, and unfortunately it didnt happen. Oupa and Majoro were a little bit high [up the field] and we were forced to play long balls to find them,” he added. Tinkler says he will try to work on the confidence of his players in the next few days at training and is hopeful that frontmen Lehlohonolo Majoro and Kermit Erasmus will start scoring goals soon. “It is important that the players become more confident,” Tinkler said. “We will try to bring back the spirit, and the fighting spirit, we had in the past. “We need Majoro and Kermit to start scoring goals. We will try to improve on the areas where we made mistakes.” Orlando Pirates welcome Mamelodi Sundowns in their next League match at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 12:54:29 +0000
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