It’s Do or Die for Orlando Pirates

The sailing hasn't been smooth for the Mighty Sea Robbers. Complacency saw them lose against the White Nights of Egypt. Instead of catching a wakeup call the Mighty Bucs went to Brazzaville hoping for things to happen and hoped for the best instead of making things happen. Now the tables have turned around and Orlando Pirates have to dig deep to their coffers when they face the Pharaohs on Sunday at Orlando Stadium. The return of Andile Jali (if not injured as reported by media after the Polokwane City game on Wednesday) will give Coach Roger de Sa more options in the middle of the park but there are.

Many Areas Of Concern:

Defense – Senzo Meyiwa's inability to deal with crosses has hampered the team’s progress but the main problem has been the fullbacks which allow those crosses to be whooped in. The central pain of Lucky Lekgwathi and Rooi Mahamutsa has not been bad, but many at times they get away with murder thanks to the poor finishing of opposition.

Mahamutsa is a headworker but he's very clumsy. The return of Siyabonga Sangweni will see him being eliminated to the bench for Lekgwathi to play with Siya in the heart of defense. The fullbacks are also a suspect Thabo Matlaba and Happy Jele haven't been doing great defensively and offensively they haven't been that effective so they need to up their game. Patrick Phungwayo played well against AC Leopards; it will be very unfair to drop him just because Matlaba is back while Jele has no real competition of the right back... this should have been fixed during the past transfer window.

Midfield – Lehlogonolo Masalesa deputised well for Andile Jali but was badly exposed against Leopards. Oupa Manyisa has become an ordinary player and he needs inspiration and Jali always provides him with that. Daine Klate's body type has worked against him in recent games but the boy's a fighter n it shows he went through good development structures unfortunately this can't be said about Sifiso Myeni who is yet to make his mark. He has produced some promising performances but has really lived up to expectations. He needs to relax n have confidence n play like how he knows n the coach must speak to him about this.

Attack – Since opening his account Lennox Bacela has been carrying the pressure on his broad shoulders all he needs is support from his teammates. His pace n agility upfront is making our attack effective but we need to bring him more to the game n support him on time not late like how it’s been happening recently. On the bench we have Limited Options upfront. Ndumiso Mabena is not reliable n JuJu hasn't been getting enough game time but he's an impact player problem is u can't take out Bacela for him. Locally we have Gabuza n Erasmus which gives us more attacking options.

#Allin, #Allwe have the ammunition to defy the odds and defeat Al Ahly when we host them at Orlando Stadium and we also have the ammunition to dispose Kaizer Chiefs on the 24^th to proceed to the final of MTN8, but there's no therefore in football. We have to make things happen if we want our archenemies to take us seriously – the honors are on us to leave them heartbroken Mabhakaniya.

CAF Champions League

Teams: Orlando Pirates vs Al Ahly

Date: 22 September 2013

Venue: Orlando Stadium

MTN8 Semi-Final

Teams: Orlando Pirates vs Kaizer Chiefs

Date: 24 September 2013

Venue: Orlando Stadium

Tse Ntsho... Since 1937

By Philani Philaman Madonsela