Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has explained how his side’s training and attacking patterns have changed following the departures of Relebohile Mofokeng and Patrick ‘Tito’ Maswanganyi.
Mofokeng and Maswanganyi were among the key attacking profiles at Pirates last season, but both have since moved on, leaving Ouaddou with the task of rebuilding his attacking structure around a different group of players.
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The Buccaneers have therefore had to adapt their training methods and playing schemes to maximise the qualities of the players now available to the coach.
“We had very good profiles with Mofokeng, with Tito and for a coach it’s not easy to lose these kind of profiles but it’s life, it’s the life of football, like I said I wish them all the best but now the life of the club must move on,” Ouaddou said when asked by iDiski Times how their playing schemes have changed with the new personnel in attacking areas.
“We have to use the profiles to find a system that is suitable – we wanted to play fast with intensity, with these new profiles, but the most important for me is how we can limit touches in crowded areas where there is lots of pressure.
“We need to train them to take and make decisions before receiving the ball, for me that’s the challenge, to reduce touches in the crowded areas and I think they did it very well today.”
Ouaddou also highlighted the importance of moving opponents from one side of the pitch to the other, with the new-look Pirates attack working on creating space through quick switches of play.
“I wanted to fix the opponent in one side and switch to opposite sides, which Mthiyane and Masilela, Mokobodi and Selepe did very well but we need to continue,” he explained.
“It’s a challenge when we are losing such important players.”
The French-Moroccan coach, however, insists the departures cannot become an excuse as he continues to rebuild the squad and integrate younger players into his system.
“My job is not to look for excuses, it’s to build, to find solutions and to keep bringing success and to win,” he said.
Ouaddou acknowledged that rebuilding takes time, particularly after losing several regular players, and called for patience as Pirates continue to develop their new-look squad.
“Some people are a little hard because they don’t understand the process when you lose five or six players, regular players and then you have to rebuild, I’m not a magician, it takes some time, and some are not patient,” he said.
“But we’re seeing the fruit of the work, with youth we need to be patient as well. I was happy with the performance today.”
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