New Pirates coach's first tactical change could spell double trouble for opponents

28 July 2016 - 20:11 By Marc Strydom

Muhsin Ertugral has revealed the first tactical change he will be making at Orlando Pirates – the coach intends to play Tendai Ndoro and Thamsanqa Gabuza together.Ertugral indicated he will not necessarily play the pair as an out-and-out strike partnership.But he believes that in attack Ndoro and Gabuza can form a formidable hunting duo‚ feeding off of each other‚ with Ndoro running at goal from between the lines and Gabuza as a classic centre-forward holding the ball up in the box.Out of possession‚ Ndoro would pull back when Pirates were defending.The coach will get to test this strike partnership in Saturday's Carling Black Label Cup against Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium‚ as both Gabuza and Ndoro have been voted into the starting line-up in the gimmicky preseason match where fans select the starting line-ups by SMS or on the internet.Ertugral said he will use the Black Label to begin answering some tactical questions at his new team."Last season [at Black Aces] I had a player like Collins Mbesuma who can only play on the box. So then how do you play a transition game with Collins when the goal is 30 metres in front of you? These are the kind of questions I will try to resolve with the squad at Pirates‚" the new Bucs coach said."We have a great combination already with Ndoro and Gabuza. So why one‚ when you have two who actually complement one another?"Playing Ndoro and Gabuza together would be a departure from the tactics last season of Ertugral's predecessor‚ Eric Tinkler‚ who utilised the two separately‚ as lone centre-forwards.Ertugral believes the speedy‚ elusive running of Ndoro could work as a deep foil in tandem with the brawn of Gabuza as a centre-forward."We looked at the detail of the squad and saw that we don't actually have a striker who is a box player and can play with his back to the opponents. We have line players who want to face [the goal]‚" Ertugral explained."And Gabuza also wants to face. But Gabuza actually is a mixture and can also hold the ball."These were elements we wanted to look at and actually they [Ndoro and Gabuza] combine very well together. One goes between the lines and wants to face goal and the other has the potential to play with his back to the opponents."But I don't think we should have a No.10 position. One of them [Ndoro] could always drop after losing the ball."A 4-4-2 situation in today's football is a bit dangerous because you open your lines and channels in front of the midfield and in front of the defence."Ndoro scored 10 goals in all competitions last season‚ most of them breaking into Bucs' first team in the second half of the campaign.Gabuza was one of three joint top-scorers with six goals in the 2015 Caf Confederation Cup‚ where Pirates went all the way to the final‚ but could barely score domestically‚ eventually falling out of favour...

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