Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro says he is not hyper-focused on keeping possession as he wants to see his team play at a high tempo.
There is a tendency among Spanish coaches to emphasise the retention of possession, often referred to as “tiki-taka”, but Riveiro has revealed he wants the Bucs to be a bit more pragmatic in their approach.
“Our style of play is to… we try to create a context where we can dominate games through possession, but I am not looking for a very long possession,” said Riveiro, as quoted by Sowetan Live.
“I want my team to be as practical as possible and arrive in the box as quick as possible when we have advantage. We want to play at a high tempo, which is difficult when we’re playing every two, three days.
“Football is not only when you have the ball; it’s also when you don’t have the capacity to have the ball like it happened yesterday in some moments of the game (against Gallants on Wednesday).
“The transitions are also very relevant nowadays. So, we’re trying to be a complete team. We try to be solid when we don’t have the ball.
“In the end, we try to be an attractive team. Even on our worst day, we want to be a competitive team.”
Riveiro spoke at a press conference on Friday, ahead of Pirates’ MTN8 quarterfinal clash with Royal AM.