Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou says the hunger his players showed was normal with a coaching change as he reflected on the seven debutants in the 2-0 win over Polokwane City.
Pirates eased past Rise and Shine in their MTN8 quarter-final at Orlando Stadium, with former Polokwane winger Oswin Appollis running riot on his debut for the Buccaneers.
He scored the opener and won the penalty which Patrick Maswanganyi scored, while Sihle Nduli and Sipho Mbule ran the midfield on their respective competitive debuts for the club.
Tshepang Moremi, Yanela Mbuthuma and Abdoulaye Mariko also got their first run outs in Pirates colours from the bench while Boitumelo Radiopane was offered a surprise start – in which he also impressed as the lone striker.
“You’re right Lorenz. When a new coach comes in, and when I was in their position while I was still a player, you want to impress the coach, and I’m happy about that, this season the club has decided to go for depth in the squad,” he said when asked by iDiski Times about the new-look squad on his debut.
“We have to give chances who deserve it, I don’t just give chances because I want to please them – if I give chances it’s because you show me in training that you can bring something to the team, so all the guys you have seen come in, they showed me something in pre-season.
“I want to say, to win a game, you need 11 players, but to win the titles, to win competitions, you need a group and it’s the philsophy we want to implement this season, we have seen in the pre-season camp that we can change the players…
“It’s very important to get everyone involved in the club – but I don’t have to forget the other players that was not with us today, they had a game this morning. Everyone will be important, I will never call a player a substitute, I try to avoid that word, they are all impact players.”
Pirates now turn their attention to Sekhukhune United next weekend at eSgodini for their first league game of the new season.
