Ouaddou warns selfish Pirates must improve after Milford win

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou criticised his players for being “selfish” despite their 3-0 victory over Milford FC in the Carling Knockout last 16 on Tuesday evening.

Pirates progressed to the quarter-finals with a clean sheet, but Ouaddou said the performance was not good enough for a side aiming to defend the Betway Premiership title and win the CAF Champions League.

The coach was particularly unhappy with the team’s lack of control, rushed play and poor decision-making in front of goal.

“Thank you very much, the positive point I think is the win, I think I will only retain this victory because I was not happy about how we played, we didn’t have the control, we had a lot of precipitation, we were selfish, a lot of players were selfish, instead of giving the ball to the teammate to score -and they are not in a bad position and they shoot,” Ouaddou told SuperSport TV.

“A lot of wrong decision making, the positive point is this three goals and clean-sheet, but to be honest if we want to dream bigger when I say dream bigger, is to win the Betway, win the Champions League.

“I think if we continue like that, we’re going to win nothing, and we have to be honest. So, I was not happy about the game so the positive point we go to the next stage, but there are a lot of players they need really to wake up,” he added.

The Moroccan-born coach also questioned how Milford were able to enjoy more possession at Orlando Pirates’ home ground, saying that should not happen against a club of their stature.

“The change you know when we’re playing such game and you’re defending the title you need to be ready straight away the first minute you need to be ready because you can see that a team like Milford can come here and have the possession.

“I think I have to check the data, stats but they cannot have more possession than you here even we played three days before a game, maybe a lack of freshness but we rotate the team and I think when we’re playing for such a big club Pirates.”

With matches coming every three days, Ouaddou said every player in the squad had to be prepared to contribute. He was also dissatisfied with the influence of the substitutes and other impact players used during the match.

“We need to wake up, we need to wake up, I’m not here to nice people, when we’re playing for such big brand and when we are ambitious to play in the continent, we need to wake up and people need to wake up when we sign the contract for Pirates. We need to give, we need to play another level to be honest,” he said.

“This is the high-level when you have the pretention to play the high-level football, you need to be ready every three days in the mind, physically and you need to delivery and especially the impact players that are making this rotation. I’m expecting a lot from the impact player,” Ouaddou added.