Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou was furious with his players despite the 3-0 win over Milford FC in the first round of the Carling Knockout Cup at home in Tuesday.
The defending champions put three first-half goals past the Stallions without a reply to progress to the quarter-finals of the tournament, with Ouaddou saying the only positive from the encounter was the result and the clean sheet.
The coach felt some of his players were selfish in areas they could have capitalised on and gotten more goals. The Moroccan tactician emphasised some his players need to show seriousness otherwise the team will not win any silverware this season.
““I think the only positive point is the win,” said Ouaddou on SuperSport TV.
“I think I will only retain this victory because I was not happy about how we played. We didn’t have the control. We had a lot of precipitation. We were selfish, a lot of players were selfish. Instead of giving the ball to the teammate to score, and they are not in the bad position, they shoot.
“A lot of wrong decision making. The positive point is these three goals and clean sheet but to be honest, if we want to dream bigger, when I say dream bigger, it’s to win the Betway [Premeirship], it’s to win the [CAF] Champions League.
“I think if we continue like that, we are going to win nothing, and we have to be honest. I was not happy about the game. The positive point we go to the next stage, but there are a lot of players they need to really to wake up.”
‘We Need To Wake Up’
Ouaddou added that it was unacceptable that Milford at some point in the game had more possession than Pirates in their own backyard.
“When you are playing such games and we are defending the title you need to be ready from the first minute because you can see that a team like Milford can come here and have the possession,” added the coach.
“I think I have to check the data, the stats but they cannot have more possession than you here. Even if we played three days before, okay, maybe we lack the freshness, but we rotate the team.
“And I think when we are playing for such big club, Pirates, we need to wake up. We need to wake up. I’m not here to nurse people.
“When we are playing for such big brand, and when we are ambitious to play in the continent, we need to wake up. When we sign the contract for Pirates we have to play another level to be honest.””