Mabasa shares thoughts on Pirates new coach Ouaddou

Orlando Pirates striker Tshegofatso Mabasa has shared his candid thoughts on the club’s new head coach, Abdeslam Ouaddou. The Moroccan mentor took over the reins at Pirates last month, set to lead the team for the 2025/26 season.

Ouaddou arrived at the Soweto giants after an impressive, albeit brief, stint with Marumo Gallants in the latter half of the previous campaign.

During his time at Gallants, Ouaddou was credited with helping the club avoid relegation and instilling an enterprising brand of football. He departed Bahlabane Ba Ntwa after failing to agree on an improved contract with club boss Abram Sello.

Ouaddou steps into the role vacated by Jose Riveiro, whose contract expired with Pirates. Riveiro, who has since joined Al Ahly, spent three seasons with the Soweto giants, securing five trophies, including three consecutive MTN8 titles.

What Mabasa Said About Abdeslam Ouaddou

With Pirates aiming to maintain their competitive edge on the African continent, Mabasa revealed that Ouaddou is a demanding yet encouraging coach. He also highlighted that the new coach has pinpointed defending set pieces as a primary area for improvement.

“I think the biggest thing about coach [Ouaddou] is that he’s a very demanding coach, but he loves his players at the same time,” Mabasa stated. “And he’s also an encourager, quite similar to coach Jose. There’s not a lot that coach Ouaddou is trying to change. It’s only how we defended our set pieces and how we dealt with transitions.”

Mabasa further explained, “He’s just trying to improve the areas that we lacked last season, and we feel it’s mostly from set pieces. We lost the [CAF] Champions League because of set pieces; we conceded three goals against Pyramids FC from set pieces, and we’re out of the tournament.”

He added, “It’s very funny how we lost the Champions League on set pieces, yet in the country, we were the best in terms of defending set pieces. So, coach Ouaddou is just trying to improve on areas we lacked last season.”