By KOPANO MONAHENG
IT’S a motivation for every team that comes face to face with Orlando Pirates this season. Everyone just wants to win against the defending champions of the MTN 8 and Betway Premiership League.
Since coach Abdeslam Ouaddou came in, the Buccaneers have not only been winning games and keeping clean sheets but also filling up stadiums across the country. But, as a Pirates coach, Ouaddou knows what is expected of them on Saturday when they play Sekhukhune United at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane. The size of the pitch is too small, but Pirates have done their homework on how to come up with a victory in such a smaller stadium.
Hard to please Ouaddou said what excites him is goals, and clean sheets more than anything else.
“Of course, we are winning. But I’m not satisfied with the way that I want my team to be dominating the game in terms of control and in terms of scoring goals.
“You know me, I am a lover of clean sheets and goals. So, even if we score three goals or four goals and we concede one goal, I will not sleep well. I will spend a very bad weekend,” he said.
“So I’m expecting a lot from the players. I’m expecting excellence. Because if you don’t push the players to excellence – if there is nobody to push them, to put pressure on them in training, in training there are no fans. So who is going to put pressure on them to put them in the right condition that they are going to face on Saturday?
“There are some clubs, you know, in North Africa, in Europe, sometimes when you organise training, there are 20,000 or 30,000 people in training.”
Ouaddou believes the pressure of being the team everyone wants to beat can also work in Pirates’ favour.
“It gives motivation for us. It’s one of the intrinsic motivations when you know that you’ve been chased and people want to beat you.
“I think, first of all, it’s good for us for the motivation. But more than that, what brings interest to the league is not to know who is going to win the league at the beginning of the season.
“It’s what brings people to the stadium. It’s what gives people interest to watch the game on TV. But if you come and you know already who is going to be champion, you know, it doesn’t make sense. That’s why I said to the guys last season, it’s not easy because people thought that I was arrogant.”
The 2026/27 season will be a tougher than the last season as they have to defend every single domestic title they won last season. Everyone is planning against them. He said that the first training that they conducted in Spain, he told the players they were going to win the league and indeed they did exactly that.
“You know, many coaches come here and they’re cautious. They say, ‘Yeah, but I need players. No, I need time. I need this. Yeah, but you need to sometimes, excuse me to use these words, but you need sometimes balls to say, ‘Yeah, I’m coming here and I want to win the league. So, yeah, it creates interest. And this season, again, we want to win the league.”
But he knows that it won’t be easy as most teams have brought in new good players into their squad. “I’m not saying that we are going to win it. We are doing everything to win it, and we are doing everything to go and win the Champions League. So, you know, if you come here, you play small and you protect yourself, what are you going to protect anyway? It means if you lose two, three games, you go out, or four games, you’ve been sacked. So be ambitious with your players and give them hope, you know,” concluded Ouaddou.
