Orlando Pirates head coach Milutin 'Micho' Sredojevic has hailed his side's pre-season preparations ahead of the new 2018/19 season.
The Soweto giants held camps in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, Zambia and Cape Town which have been deemed a success by the Serbian tactician.
Sredojevic managed to integrate the older players with the club's new signings as they look to challenge for major trophies in the new term.
“I need to give credit to the management for taking care of everything that happened to us last season after our report. They have done a tremendous job in the off-season to strengthen the team. I am very satisfied. And all we planned practically in the last four weeks that we have gone through, I think we have succeeded,” Sredojevic said on The Citizen.
Brilliant Khuzwayo, Vincent Pule, Ben Motshwari, Meshack Maphangule, Asavela Mbekile, Linda Mntambo, Abel Mabaso, Paseka Mako and Kudakwashe Mahachi have all joined the Buccaneers during the current transfer window.
“The first week was the introduction of the technical team and the new players to integrate with the players who were already here. Coming together was the crucial part and that continued in the camp in Nelspruit where fitness was the most important element we wanted to achieve," he continued.
Next Match
The Buccaneers played friendly games against DR Congo giants TP Mazembe and local clubs during their stay in Zambia.
“In Zambia we played some matches, especially against TP Mazembe, and they showed us the standard we need to reach and we succeeded in that and two other matches. We came back and had a weekend trip to Cape Town where we played two matches before returning," he added.
Sredojevic will use the next couple of days to try and identify new combinations ahead of their first Premier Soccer League (PSL) game with newly-promoted Highlands Park at Orlando Stadium on August 4.
“We are in the last part of preparing for the Premiership season, we are happy and satisfied and just need to polish our man management, partnerships, triangulations. That is our target for the next few days," he explained
“This is my first pre-season working with (assistant) coach Rulani (Mokwena) and everything has gone well. But instead of thinking of what happened before, here we are with a few days to go to polish the team," he concluded.
