Orlando Pirates star Tshegofatso Mabasa has shared his thoughts on the club’s new head coach, Abdeslam Ouaddou.
The Moroccan tactician was appointed last month to lead the Buccaneers in the 2025/26 Betway Premiership season.
Ouaddou joins Orlando Pirates after a notable spell with Marumo Gallants, where he helped the team avoid relegation and earned praise for implementing an exciting style of play.
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Abdeslam Ouaddou was appointed head coach of Orlando Pirates following the departure of Jose Riveiro, whose contract expired at the end of last season.
Riveiro has since taken over at Al Ahly after a successful three-year spell with the Soweto giants, during which he won five trophies, including three consecutive MTN8 titles.
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TSHEGOFATSO MABASA DESCRIBES ABDESLAM OUADDOU
“I think the biggest thing about coach [Ouaddou] is that he’s a very demanding coach, but he loves his players at the same time,” Mabasa said via FARPost.
“And he’s also an encourager, quite similar to coach Jose. There’s not a lot that coach Ouaddou is trying to change. It’s only how we defended our set pieces and how we dealt with transitions.
“He’s just trying to improve the areas that we lacked last season, and we feel it’s mostly from set pieces. We lost the [CAF] Champions League because of set pieces; we conceded three goals against Pyramids FC from set pieces, and we’re out of the tournament.
“It’s very funny how we lost the Champions League on set pieces, yet in the country, we were the best in terms of defending set pieces. So, coach Ouaddou is just trying to improve on areas we lacked last season,” Mabasa concluded.
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM ORLANDO PIRATES UNDER ABDESLAM OUADDOU?
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