Orlando Pirates, TS Galaxy and Marumo Gallants coaches demand more after Carling Knockout matches

Three Betway Premiership coaches criticised their players after Tuesday night’s Carling Knockout fixtures, with poor decision-making, defensive mistakes and a lack of intensity highlighted despite contrasting results.

Orlando Pirates progressed with a 3-0 victory against Milford FC, but coach Abdeslam Ouaddou said the performance fell well short of the standard required to challenge for the Betway Premiership and CAF Champions League.

Thapelo Mokobodi scored for the Buccaneers, while Tshepang Moremi added two goals. However, Ouaddou was unhappy with the way his players approached several situations.

“There were a lot of selfish players. Instead of giving the ball to a teammate to score, they shoot. Lots of wrong decision-making,” he said.

“The positive point is three goals and a clean sheet. But if we want to dream bigger, when I say dream bigger, it is to win the Betway Premiership; it is to win the CAF Champions League. I think if we continue like that, we are going to win nothing. And we have to be honest.”

Mtsweni unhappy with Galaxy response

TS Galaxy interim coach Esau Mtsweni was similarly dissatisfied after his side lost 3-0 to Kaizer Chiefs. Wandile Duba scored a hat-trick, while Mtsweni questioned Galaxy’s attitude and their inability to stop the same defensive errors.

“To be honest with you, this was not something that we planned, something that we came here for. For me it was evident from the first half that things were not going our way. We didn’t look like a team that wanted to win,” he said.

Mtsweni said negative passing prevented Galaxy from finding their rhythm, despite him addressing the issue at half-time.

“We kept on playing negative passes, negative passes. It was very much concerning for me. When we go for a break, I raised that with our players to say we need to come to the party. We were just not there. It was not our day.”

He was particularly concerned that the team had conceded similar goals in his second match as interim coach, despite working on their defence for 13 days.

“We analysed the Chiefs, we said this is how the score goes, but we still consider the same,” Mtsweni said. “It was very much disappointing.”

He added that Galaxy had to improve quickly before their next match against Polokwane City in two or three days.

Mtsweni said the second-half collapse mirrored the team’s previous game, with players losing concentration and failing to correct the same problems. He added that the match had shown which players were ready for the required level and which were not.

Kanalelo points to missed chances

Marumo Gallants coach Ronnie Kanalelo blamed poor decision-making after a 1-0 defeat by Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld.

Gallants, also known as Bahlabane, had 11 shots but only three on target. Kanalelo said his players had created opportunities but repeatedly failed in one-on-one situations.

“Decision making let us down in most of our good moments,” he said. “It’s three games now that we have been let down with our 1v1s.”

Kanalelo said the players needed to assess situations more quickly rather than forcing attacks.

“You can’t teach decision-making. In the situation, the player has to process, take quick information and see if the ball is ready, if the ball is not ready, don’t force issues. Just take a second touch and apply your mind a little bit and that is what’s lacking for us.”