After a perfect start to the season, including a third consecutive MTN8 trophy, Soccer Laduma highlights five points on why the Orlando Pirates squad is ready to compete for Premiership and CAF Champions League honours.
Pirates won cup doubles for the past two seasons but they came short in the Premiership race and Champions League.
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However, after three wins out of three in the Premiership and qualification for the continental competition's group stages, what makes the current squad, contenders this time around?
Monnapule Saleng reborn
After being crowned 2022/23 PSL Footballer of the Season, Saleng had a bad 2023/24 campaign based on those lofty standards, as he scored only five goals in 27 appearances, in all competitions.
Currently, Saleng has already scored five goals and looks on course to regain form that saw him being crowned the best player.
The rise of Thalente Mbatha
Barely a year at Pirates, Mbatha has already received praise and a call-up to Bafana Bafana squad by head coach Hugo Broos.
Mbatha has brought stability in midfield, in rare qualities to play from box to box.
Deano Van Rooyen factor
A former captain at Stellenbosch, Van Rooyen adds the quality they did not have in a modern wing-back, who can also play in midfield.
DVR's speed also means Pirates also, tactically, have a reliable player to thwart counter-attacks.
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No more over-reliance on Patrick Maswanganyi
Pirates seemed to be channeling most of their attacks through Maswanganyi last season. However, they possess other match winners such as Tshegofatso Mabasa, who was not in the squad last season.
Set-pieces
At some point in the past, the Buccaneers struggled with conceding set-piece goals and hardly scored from set-plays.
However, that is the area they have improved tremendously, especially in scoring from set-plays and that can make a big difference to the team winning matches that they previously drew or lost.
