With alleged disciplinary issues of certain players at Orlando Pirates, head coach Jose Riveiro has drawn the line on why they can't afford to be distracted, especially during the period games will be coming thick and fast.
Even though Patrick Maswanganyi was suspended in a 8-1 hammering of Marumo Gallants due to an accumulation of yellow cards, the gangly attacker was conspicuous with his absence in back-to-back CAF Champions League matches against Al Ahly and Stade d'Abidjan, not included in the squad.
While Monnapule Saleng was also mysteriously not in the roster that played against CR Belouizdad and the Ivorian outfit in the Champions League.
With rumours circulating that Maswanganyi and Saleng are among other players sidelined allegedly due to disciplinary reasons, the remaining Buccaneers showed unbelievable hunger, as if provoked by something, after scoring seven unanswered goals in the second stanza in their demolition of Gallants.
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In his post-match interview, Riveiro firstly addressed whether they are dreaming about the title.
"We have dreams but we also have goals, short-term goals, we're not thinking, maybe people have the right to speak about who is going to win the league but we're not thinking about us in that particular moment," the Spanish coach told journalists at Orlando Stadium.
"We're thinking about what is coming next week with Magesi, how many points can we collect in January in order to continue our objectives in the (CAF) Champions League, so we try to establish short term goals, to always have close (targets).
"And not be distracted with what's going to happen in four, five months, because you can forget what it takes to achieve that objective at the end of the season," Riveiro said.
"We're back training 26 December, from the 29th we're not stopping, so if you start to think about how many things we're missing because of our dreams, it doesn't make any sense."
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The 47-year-old mentor also opened up on distractions which may surface during the so-called silly season.
"We're engaged or we're not, we're committed or we're not, there's nothing in the middle. So far the team managed to be committed in this strange season, maybe we still have 30, 35 games to play, so we know even though we're in December, we just started," Riveiro went on.
"Still a lot of things to do, if we get distracted with other things, we're not going to make it, it's simple. We're not playing in easy competition and easy league. PSL is not easy, Champions League goes without saying," the Spanish coach concluded.