Orlando Pirates assistant coach Fadlu Davids says that he is in constant communication with head coach Josef Zinnbauer, who, he says, still has his finger on the pulse despite the coach departing for Germany to deal with a family matter.

The club revealed last week, after the victory over Kaizer Chiefs, that Zinnbauer was leaving for Germany to deal with a family issue, with reports later revealing that his son was involved in a serious motor accident and is in a critical condition in a hospital in Germany.

With the second leg of the MTN8 semi-final against Chiefs set for Sunday, Davids will have to fill the German coach’s boots, as he did for the 1-0 mid-week DSTV Premiership win over Bloemfontein Celtic, but he won’t be alone as Zinnbauer is still running the show.

‘I’m in constant contact with the coach – three or four times a day – and he definitely has his finger on the pulse,’ Davids told the media on Friday.

‘We know we have to approach the game without complacency, not thinking with one hand in the final, no. We approach the game with this semi-final score 0-0.

‘If you approach the game really wanting to score and not immediately going to defend the 3-0 scoreline, that’s the approach we want to take and how we’ll start the match.’

Meanwhile, Bucs will again be without the services of Gabadinho Mhango while they are sweating over the availability of Thembinkosi Lorch, Thulani Hlatshwayo and Terrence Dvukamanja.

‘Gabadinho Mhango is ruled out, definitely not available. We still await [updates] on Tyson, Lorch and Dzvukamanja. We’ll get the final reports later in the day and then make a decision to either do a late fitness test or not,’ said Davids.