Zinnbauer struggles to keep Orlando Pirates ‘switched on’

Orlando Pirates head coach Josef Zinnbauer has bemoaned his side’s tendency to switch off during matches this season.

Toothless Orlando Pirates battle to keep pace

Pirates followed their 2-1 victory over Kaizer Chiefs last weekend by going down 2-0 to Golden Arrows in Durban on Tuesday night.

That result saw Arrows leapfrog Pirates into fourth place and left the Soweto Giants eight points off the league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.

Orlando Pirates have not won back-to-back league matches since November and while they have been sublime at times, there have been struggles with fluency from the Sea Robbers.

Struggles in front of goal

Zinnbauer feels that Orlando Pirates struggles are down to their inability to seize their chances.

“The performance in the first half was not enough to win the game. In the second half, yes, they did more, but we have a problem we don’t score at the moment. You see we don’t score the penalty and the other chances that we had, but its not enough. We have to work from the first second of the game to the last,” Zinnbauer told the media after the game.

Orlando Pirates head coach Josef Zinnbauer

Orlando Pirates will be in action in the Nedbank Cup this weekend, but are likely to name a much-changed side as they square off with National First Dvision outfit Uthongathi FC.

Zinnbauer defended the decision to have Thembinkosi Lorch take the missed penalty against Golden Arrows.

“It’s not a pressure for him, he’s an experienced player, he scored in the MTN8 the penalty and now it’s football, you need luck in this game. We had 20 minutes more, we couldn’t score,” he said.

“We have some games you don’t have the first opportunity to score, you have the penalty and you don’t score, that is not enough for us. I’m very disappointed, I’m frustrated.

“If you make a mistake then you get a goal, these players it’s not their intention, it’s a game you have to win, they fight, they run, they do what they can.

“We lost the game in the first-half, we had opportunities to score, Lorch is a top player, normally he scores but today it was not possible, all the players are frustrated. You saw after the game the heads go down.

“They know they had opportunities, we did not make the best game but we can make a draw or maybe more but now it’s important we take our heads up and start again.”