Ouaddou unbeaten in four as Pirates rebuild without Mofokeng and Mbatha
Three starters gone and a Coach of the Month award already in the cabinet, the Moroccan has found his answers in the transfer market and the academy.
Orlando Pirates have taken ten points from their opening four Betway Premiership matches, and the coach who has done it has been named Coach of the Month for his trouble. Abdeslam Ouaddou has won three and drawn one, and he has done it without three of the players who carried last season’s treble.
Thalente Mbatha and Masindi Nemtajela are both out injured. Relebohile Mofokeng has left for Belgian side Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, who will play in the UEFA Europa League this season. The South African reported the scale of that rebuild on Wednesday, and the numbers behind it explain why the coach had to go shopping.
The hole in the middle
Mbatha was the player who moved Pirates from defence into attack. He averaged 55,4 passes per 90 minutes last season at 87,2% accuracy, won 61,5% of his duels and completed 1,8 successful dribbles a match. The 26-year-old from Durban gave the midfield its physical edge.
Ouaddou first tried Cemran Dansin, 21, and Simphiwe Selepe, also 21, in the deeper role. Neither held it. Mthetheleli Mthiyane, 25 and one of twelve new signings this season, adapted to the system and made the number six shirt his own.
Nemtajela’s injury opened a second gap. The 25-year-old had formed an effective partnership with Mbatha, completing 48,1 passes a game at 84,5% accuracy, winning 5,8 contested ground and aerial duels and adding 1,2 successful dribbles. His energy and his ability to carry the ball forward under pressure are not easy to replace.
Thapelo Mokobodi has done it. The 23-year-old, signed from Stellenbosch FC, has settled into the number eight position and brought the box-to-box running the coach wants in the centre of the pitch.
The creativity problem
Mofokeng was the hardest of the three to lose. The 21-year-old finished last season with 11 goals and nine assists, averaged 3,9 successful dribbles per 90 minutes at a 67,4% success rate and registered 42 key passes. He was central to the historic domestic treble.
Ouaddou experimented with Dansin and Patrick Maswanganyi further forward before turning to Simphiwe Masilela. The 22-year-old academy graduate is now the coach’s preferred answer to the creative vacancy.
Mthiyane, Mokobodi and Masilela have become the spine of the solution, and the early results suggest the coach has solved some of the biggest problems facing his new-look side.
What it means for the season
Pirates have not been disrupted. Ouaddou adjusted his system and trusted younger players with important roles, and the league table has rewarded him for it. For a club that lost a treble-winning attacker to Europe and two midfielders to the treatment room, an unbeaten start is a statement about squad depth rather than luck.
The test now is whether that depth holds through the congested part of the calendar, when injuries and suspensions bite and the Europa League commitments of a departed player are no longer the club’s concern but the fixture list still is. Pirates’ next Betway Premiership fixture is the first proper measure of whether four games was a start or a pattern.
Source: The South African, Orlando Pirates coach Ouaddou replacing three important players
