Orlando Pirates utility player Deon Hotto was sympathetic towards his teammate Patrick Maswanganyi during the latter’s change room bust-up with head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou.
The confrontation happened during Pirates’ 3-0 league win against Marumo Gallants in February at the Orlando Amstel Arena. Footage of the explosive reaction was released by the club in Part 1 of the BucsCamp episode aired on SuperSport and Pirates TV YouTube channel on Sunday.
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The 2025/26 Betway Premiership champions were leading Ouaddou’s former side 2-0 at the break with Tito one of the scorers, however having also missed a chance to score a third goal before the break.
Hotto was also shown in the episode among those who held Ouaddou back during the explosive rant as the coach looked to be approaching Maswanganyi during the heated back and forth of words.
The Namibian’s take on the situation is that as much as he understood the coach’s point of view, Tito also made a good point on why he didn’t deliver in the moment that frustrated the coach.
“The tension, it was very high,” said Hotto.
“It was something else in the changing room. When the coach came, he pointed out on Tito, you know, that he’s too relaxed on the ball, he’s not releasing the ball too fast. But for us also, you know, as players, we could understand where the coach is sitting and viewing the match.
“Also, because the coach was at Marumo Gallants, he’s at Pirates now, so obviously he’s ambition is he wants to kill. He wants to kill Marumo Gallants, he wants the goals, he wants those three points. But us players also, we understand also, but sometimes things will never go your way, also.
“Sometimes the team is strong, we can’t break them. Tito said ‘coach, I can’t release the ball quick because this team is sitting, I need time on the ball for me to break them’. And for me, I felt it was true because Marumo Gallants were sitting and now we can’t just play the ball through, through to who? The guys are waiting for us there. So, we need someone on the ball and who is it? The only person we have to break that team is Tito.”
Hotto added that he believes the coach loves Tito and also feels his teammate is a sensitive person who often needs reassurance.
“That’s why I’m saying a lot of people don’t see, it’s like they see the start, but they don’t see the end product,” added the winger.
“The coach, to be honest, the coach loves Tito too much. He loves him but you have to understand, Tito is someone else. He’s…how can I put this guy? Tito is just Tito, man like Coach [Jose] Riveiro would say, Tito is just Tito.
“You need to brush him a bit like ‘hey my boy come on, let’s go, don’t worry.’ He has a small heart man. You need to be next to him to tell him Tito don’t stress man, it’s gone. Let’s go back and play. He’s that type of guy.”
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