Ouaddou pleased with players’ reaction after angry outburst

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou had a go at errant players after the midweek draw with AmaZulu and got the reaction he was looking for in their 3-0 win over Chippa United in Durban on Sunday.

An angry Ouaddou criticised some of his World Cup players after the 1-1 draw with AmaZulu, saying they still had their heads in the U.S and needed to start focusing on the domestic game.

“I said that I wanted a reaction from my players. I had it today,” he said after beating Chippa and going top of the Betway Premiership. “I just hope that we will be consistent in the next games.”

Ouaddou had copped some criticism on social media for his outburst last week.

“It's funny how some people want to create some polemics sometimes between the coach and the players. You know, I know my players very well. I know their psychology.

"They know their coach. Yes, the coach sometimes is hot, but the love is here. And when a father, or when a big brother, is speaking, because maybe he's looking for a reaction,” the Pirates coach said.

“And I had it today, but now people don't want to let me do my job, you know, now everybody's commenting on what the coach is saying, but you don't know what's happening in the dressing room.

“There is a lot of hypocrisy in this ecosystem of football. And maybe sometimes I'm too honest. People are using these things to try and make fire.

“People must understand when the coach is asking something from the players, he’s not looking to make problems. The coach is here to touch one essential point of the psychology sometimes, you know, and we had it today, that’s the most important,” Ouaddou added.

To keep consistency, he added, Pirates needed to “stick to our principles, to our way of playing football".

“We are not that focused on the opponent, although we do study the opponent. It's important to give some input, some information to the players, but a club like Pirates should focus on how they want to play, how they want to imbalance that opponent, how they want to build, how they want to defend.

“And it's only our principles that drive us, that guide us to win games. So whatever the opponent, we are going to play, of course, our analyst department gives us some input, but our principal stays the same.”