Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has explained what he demands from a striker and touched on Boitumelo Radiopane’s return.
Pirates boast some of the best attacking options in the PSL with Evidence Makgopa and Yanela Mbuthuma having been preferred ahead of Tshegofatso Mabasa and Boitumelo Radiopane.
Ouaddou explained what the modern football requires, which comes after Radiopane came back and played well in the Carling Black Label Cup against Carling All Stars team.
Radiopane played a few games at the beginning of the season, but he suffered an injury and only made his comeback on match day in the Carling Cup final.
“It’s one young player among many others that has been doing well. He had a fantastic preparation in Spain. If you remember, we started him at the beginning of the season,” Ouaddou told the media.
“Afterwards, he had some injury problems. We had to protect him. And when you give chance to another striker with scoring, it’s difficult to change. And like I have said, we are putting players especially strikers, regarding the profile of the opponent that we are going to play.
“I have said that in the game model from my striker, I need more than a goal. Of course, the goal are very important.
“But in the competencies, the qualities of the striker, I’m looking for some more as well scoring, but I need you to be very efficient without the ball as well. Without the ball, it means that when we don’t have the ball, you need to work, because the ball will not be recovered only by the four players at the back.
“We need the involvement, the commitment of everybody in the team. And fortunately, I always said to my strikers, if you don’t participate, if you don’t want to make effort to help us, to recover the ball together and to participate, to the strength of the team, it will be difficult.
“And they have to integrate that quickly, because the modern football, you cannot only wait the ball in the box and to score the football has evaluated.”
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