Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has made it clear that he intends to select the players he believes will give the club the best chance of winning rather than handing out flowers and risking losing his job.
After Pirates’ narrow 2-1 win over Durban City in the MTN8 quarterfinal to progress to the semifinal, Ouaddou said he is trying to avoid the mistakes he made last season when he lost two opening matches.
The Buccaneers needed extra time to beat stubborn Durban City after Patrick Maswanganyi had given them a lead before Jean Lubumba levelled matters at Orlando Amstel Arena on Saturday.
New signing Gamphani Lungu scored the winning goal late in injury time to send the Buccaneers to the last four.
Ouaddou explained what inspired his starting lineup against Durban City.
“I’m not here to give flowers to people. We are not in the circus. We are in a professional ecosystem,” he told the media after the match.
“There are a lot of expectations. If you want me to remind you of my two first games last season, you feel that I was happy to have eight bodyguards around me?
“I want to win. Of course I’m going to play the strongest team because the fans want to win this competition, the club wants to win it as well, and I want to win it as well, and it won’t be easy.
“So I need to put a strong team and the players who deserve to play because they show in training, they show in the preparation.
“There is nothing guaranteed, and it’s how we push the players to have competition.
“But I’m not here to give flowers, because when you lose two or three games, who is in the headlines?
The Buccaneers created a lot of chances throughout the match but failed to convert them. With new Norwegian striker Sebastian Pedersen having arrived and watching his side at the venue, Ouaddou hopes he will solve their scoring woes.
“It is all the time the good news for the coach to have a new player, and he is part of our strikers that we have already, and it is very good news for everyone who is impatient to see him,” he said.
“He will be part of the competition among all the strikers that we have.”
Pirates will switch their focus to the league match when they visit AmaZulu at Kings Park Stadium on Wednesday.
Sowetan
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