Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has shed light on why young midfielder Simphiwe Selepe was handed his first start of the season in match-day 29 of the league campaign.
The 21-year-old South Africa international midfielder featured 69 minutes in the 0-0 draw with Durban City – the penultimate fixture of a tightly contested title race with Mamelodi Sundowns.
The decision raised eyebrows given how late in the season the opportunity came, but Ouaddou was quick to dismiss any suggestion that the timing reflected a lack of faith in the player, pointing instead to the sheer depth of quality Pirates have assembled in the middle of the park.
“It’s competition, we have a strong group in midfield, but it was the right moment,” Ouaddou explained.
The coach made clear that Selepe was no stranger to the Pirates setup, having featured and impressed after breaking through at the end of last season under his predecessor Jose Riveiro, that earned him a senior international breakthrough, just months after his promotion from the DStv Diski Challenge squad.
“Selepe is a player you know from last season, he played a couple of games and he played well, and today was the right moment to bring him, he showed great things in training and it’s a profile we needed, to find players between the lines,” Ouaddou said.
The gamble paid off. Selepe delivered an encouraging display, demonstrating exactly the qualities the coaching staff had identified in him, this was just days after helping the reserve team win their maiden DDC title – ironically, against Sundowns.
“He did well – and he was able to play forward, to have some combinations between the lines, he was very aggressive without the ball and in the air as well,” the coach added.
“It’s very good for Pirates to have such young players with us.”
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