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Former Orlando Pirates captain Lucky Lekgwathi has revealed that he had conversations with Bucs head coach Jose Riveiro earlier in the season, about the depth in the squad with competition in all departments.
Lekgwathi was speaking to iDiski Times Writer Lethabo Kganyago in edition 119 of the newspaper, where he discussed how the youngsters in the side are raising their hands to be picked ahead of the senior players.
Lekgwathi said that it’s good that the core of the squad that won a double last season is still there and experienced players like captain Innocent Maela and midfielder Thembinkosi Lorch will draw inspiration from the competition they face in the side.
“You know, some weeks back I went to meet the coach at a braai and he said to me ‘You know what, I have a complete team’, and I said to him ‘I can see that’,” Lekgwathi told iDiski Times.
“It’s not only Lorch, there are others too missing, the competition is stiff and it’s a motivation to them that they must work extra hard. If you look at the team, no one owns a position, like our captain. He is not playing and [Paseka] Mako is playing, which is a motivation for [Innocent] Maela, because whenever he comes in he works very hard.
“So even Lorch must be motivated because the youngsters have arrived and that’s how it must be in football. There must be competition.
“We were just talking about the team. I was asking him, ‘Coach, how do you see the team?’ and he said ‘we have a complete team, a strong team’. After winning the MTN8 last season and finishing in second position most of the players are still there.
“I can see what the coach was telling me was the truth, because even as a legend and former player of Orlando Pirates [I’d say] we have a complete team.
“Credit must go to the leadership of the team because they didn’t relax and say we won the MTN8 and Nedbank whilst finishing in second position, we have a strong squad. They went and got other players to make competition stiff and you can see the competition is stiff at Pirates. So I am convinced that Pirates is going far.”
You can read Lekgwathi’s full interview with Kganyago in the current edition of iDiski Times available on the website.