Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has once again come to the defense of striker Yanela Mbuthuma who has struggled to get goals.
Mbuthuma, 24, is in his second season with the Buccaneers and has one goal in the last 17 matches. This is something that hasn’t gone down well with the club’s fan base, with some expressing their frustrations on social media bordering on abuse of the player.
Ahead of the first leg of the MTN 8 semi-final against Sekhukhune United the coach admitted that goals and stats matter and he has had the conversation with Mbuthuma himself.
However Ouaddou added that he and his technical team will continue to keep faith in Mbuthuma because they see his contribution in training and official matches and that benching the player could also affect his confidence negatively.
“You have two schools of thought when you analyze a game as a tactician, not like just a fan, I don’t say that the fan cannot read the game,” said Ouaddou.
“Of course, the media, the fans can read the game, but there is a difference between the vision from outside and the vision that we can get from the pitch and to have the player all the week and seeing what he can do in training in the games. I already spoke about that issue.
“The player is interesting about how we want to play the league that is creating in the team the amount of work that is doing without the ball.
“So now we cannot take out these good things that he is doing that are important for our team. Now, of course, that I share this with you and with everybody. At the end of the season, we are looking for stats, we are looking for datas, and we are looking for the amount of goals.
“So there are two thoughts. Or you take out the boy, you put him on the side, and you bring him, maybe you can have some confidence, but on the other side, nobody can predict maybe you can kill his confidence as well.
“So we have chosen, not only me, we are team that is working together in Pirates, we are working as a collective, and we have decided to keep trust in him to give him a chance.
“Because if he was not good in the game and he is not scoring, yeah, maybe we can take the decision to let him down.
“But I really think, and I told him that the game, proper game, he is doing well, and yes, now I’m expecting the goal. So I wanted to be clear about that, and because you asked me the question, and like I told you, I’m an honest coach, I try to answer you. I hope not people going to interpret again what I am saying because it’s easy to interpret and to say what I didn’t say.
“But he’s a player of Pirates. We have a project. We have a vision, and we know in the world of football that sometimes some players can have a difficult moment, and we are here to support them. They are our players.
“They are young talent of the country and I cannot kill a talent. Never in my career as a coach, I cannot kill a talent. I need to believe and to keep believe on him. And of course, until maybe when I’ve been sacked, maybe you will say you should take him off. But I still believe on him.”