New Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou wasted no time making clear how he wants his team to play, opening his account with a convincing 2-0 victory over Polokwane City to take his side to the semifinals of the MTN8.
Two first-half goals by Oswin Appollis, one of the six new Bucs players given their debuts, and Patrick Maswanganyi's penalty took Pirates to the last four of a cup competition they've made their own in the last three seasons under Ouaddou's predecessor, Jose Riveiro.
Inevitably, there will be a lot of comparison between Ouaddou's style and that of Riveiro's, which yielded five domestic cup competitions, including three MTN8s in a row. Also under the Spaniard, Pirates made three attempts to wrest the Betway Premiership title from Mamelodi Sundowns, finishing as runners-up in the last three seasons.
The biggest challenge for Ouaddou will be ending Pirates' drought in the league as they last won it in 2012, while Sundowns have grabbed the last eight seasons and will again start the 2025-26 campaign as favourites.
I asked Ouaddou at the end of Saturday's match what his philosophy was and whether he had the right material to implement it at Pirates as quickly as possible.
“Of course, I have the tools,” said Ouaddou, a former Moroccan international, of the players he's found at Pirates and close to 10 new who were added to last season's squad.
“The club has given me the possibility to be successful. I'm very happy and very proud of the quality of the players I have. Of course, every weekend I have trouble to find the line-up, but it's a good problem for me. I'm a happy coach.
“The philosophy, I don't want to go deep [into it] because if I had to explain to you my philosophy, I think we'd have to sit for an hour or two. But quickly, I like a positional game, I like a direct game. I want my team to be able to play the positional game, but direct, and to be strong defensively. I need time to explain it, but to be honest, it's my playbook and my game model with 90 slides.”
One player who has wasted no time catching up with Ouaddou's huge slides is former Polokwane winger Appollis, who introduced himself to the Bucs fans with an incredible opening goal and also won the penalty that Maswanganyi converted.
“I know Appollis's quality. I will not change him, but I want to bring him to the highest level,” said Ouaddou of the Bafana Bafana player.
“And of course we need to discipline him, to give him some tactical workshop to do. He did it during the preseason camp and you can see that we don't use him just for transition but for many tasks as well.
“He did well today in 60 minutes, we didn't want to burn him. But he can come between the lines, he can make deep runs and yes, he can change the sides. I want dynamic players, not only to stand on one side and wait for the ball.
“I want a very dynamic team, a very dynamic organisation and a very dynamic system. It's modern football and you can see now that system is not only 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-3. Everybody is changing the position, and the opponent cannot know even how you're playing because it's a modern football.”
Ouaddou showed in Saturday's match he really appreciates expansive football, especially with his decision to start both Maswanganyi and Mbule — who both have similar attributes though coaches tend to use Mbule in a more defensive central midfield role despite his creative skills that can make him a good No 10.
Mbule operated with Sihle Nduli on Saturday. Maswanganyi was in a more advanced role alongside Relebohile Mofokeng, who combined well with Appollis in setting up the second goal after the latter was fouled inside the area.
The real test for Ouaddou and his side will come on Saturday when Eric Tinkler's Sekhukhune United, another team that is already in the MTN8 semifinals, visits them at Orlando Stadium in the league's opening fixture.
The win over Polokwane was also a great boost for Nkosinathi Sibisi, who played his first match as a new Pirates skipper. Playing alongside 19-year-old Mbekezeli Mbokazi, the Bucs defence looked strong and comfortable in keeping a clean sheet — something Ouaddou highlighted after the match.
“The target for the season is to have a team that starts with a very high intensity. We wanted to have a clean sheet as well because during the preseason we had many interesting games, but in most of them we conceded. I was not so happy, but the target today was to score and have a clean sheet. I think most of the targets were reached, though we could have scored a third goal in the second half.”
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