Cape Town – Orlando Pirates head coach Milutin Sredojevic has admitted that finishing is still an area of concern after their 1-0 loss to Bloemfontein Celtic on Sunday.
Sredojevic gave Thamsanqa Gabuza the chance to start upfront, with Augustine Mulenga and Justin Shonga dropping out of the side, but still, the Buccaneers were unable to penetrate the opposition defence.
"At halftime, we emphasised that there are three areas we need to reach on the flanks. We tried everything, they were defending. It was not meant to be," Sredojevic told SuperSport.
"We have learned the lesson, we need to get back to the drawing board. Our problem is finishing, we need to find the formula.
"We need to have a variety of attacks so that we are not an easily readable book and predictable. I give credit to the opponent for resolute defending, they were succeeding in everything to block. This is a point of concern to us that we need to find the formula."
The Serb claimed that Pirates were "the dominant side from start to end", but conceded they were undone by a set piece, which led to Bongani Sam scoring the only goal of the game in the 17th minute.
Sredojevic urged his side to bounce back when they return to action against Black Leopards on 28 August.
"Next Tuesday we are going to Thohoyandou. We know what kind of opponent we are facing — they have a passionate crowd that is on the side of the opponent," 'Micho' said.
"They will practically be having player number 12. We will find our shortcomings and bounce back stronger."
