Ouaddou rues Orlando Pirates’ missed set piece opportunities against City

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou was left to rue his team’s failure to take advantage of their lion’s share of set pieces in their 0-0 Betway Premiership draw with Durban City at Orlando Stadium on Saturday.

Pirates created a staggering 19 corner kicks but failed to convert any of them as they were forced to settle for a point, when three would have seen them wrap up the league title with a game to spare. The result left Ouaddou’s young Bucs with a fair degree of pressure, with them needing a win against Orbit College in their last match of the season at Mbombela Stadium on Saturday to clinch their first league title since 2012.

Pirates go to that game occupying second spot on the log and two points adrift of defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns, who completed their campaign during the week to compete in the Caf Champions League final.

Pirates have not won the league since their legendary second back-to-back treble in the 2011-12 campaign and are desperate to get over the line, but it is not going to be easy because second-from-bottom Orbit College are in danger of relegation. Clinching the league title in their last game of the season — Ouaddou’s first at the Soweto giants — would mean another treble for Bucs as they won the MTN8 and Carling Knockout in the first half of the campaign.

Bucs’ Moroccan boss said his team has improved on set pieces during the season but agreed Pirates should have used their dominance to score at least one goal against City.

“It [defending and attacking set pieces] is an area where we were weak at the beginning of the season. If you remember during our preseason in Spain, most of the goals we conceded were on set pieces,” Ouaddou said.

“If you can check the data now, Pirates is one of the best teams in defensive or attacking set pieces. It shows how hard we have worked in that area and the guys have done a good job.

“They have improved in that area but there is still a lot of work to be done. When you have so many [attacking] set pieces, you must at least score one goal and this shows we still have more work to do.”

Ouaddou explained how dealing with set pieces works in professional football.

“Sometimes people think it is the height of the players, but it is about timing, how you are able to judge the flight of the ball, aggressiveness to attack the ball and the delivery.

“There are many factors in this area but we have made a strong improvement and still need to work harder in order to be more dangerous.”

Ouaddou said Pirates’ mission against City was simple: to get all three points and win the league.

“We wanted to get all three points. I want to be clear that we only wanted the three points and not the title because a lot of people were already celebrating before the game and wanted to take out the champagne.

“We are clear and for us the target was to take three points for the fans but it didn’t happen. If you remember, I have been saying since the beginning of the season that the title will be decided in the last game.

“Here we here and I am really confident, my players have to be confident as well and this is the beauty of the PSL. Durban City came to play a strong game and it shows the interest in the league.

“We can be disappointed but for the interest of the PSL, it is really good to keep the suspense until the end, something that didn’t happen over the past eight years.

“I think it was unusual for you during the past eight years [that] you knew one month before who was going to be the champion. Let’s push for one more week and we hope to give happiness to our fans in the last game.

“It is not going to be easy because we are going to play against the team that is going to play for their position in the league.”

Orbit (24 points) are in second-last place and will be desperate for a win in Saturday’s final round to guarantee missing out on automatic relegation (last-placed Magesi FC have 21 points), while a win could help them go above third-last Marumo Gallants (24 points).

City coach Pitso Dladla said the Durban team came to Johannesburg to get something to boost their ambitions of finishing in the top eight.

“We prepared ourselves well to get our tactical behaviour on point. We knew it was going to be a difficult game but we have ambitions to finish in the top eight. So a draw or win was crucial for us but the preparations were the same. We did not do anything less or more,” said Dladla.