Passionate Ouaddou hoping to win fans over against Orbit

Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou sympathises with the club's fans as he targets more improvement against Orbit College at the Orlando Stadium on Tuesday, August 26.

Kick-off is at 7.30pm CAT (SA, GMT+2)

Current form:

Ouaddou has come in for criticism from a section of the Buccaneers' passionate fanbase after losing his opening two league games at the helm since replacing Jose Riveiro.

Pirates suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to Sekhukhune United on the opening weekend and were also beaten 2-1 by Marumo Gallants three days later on August 12.

Ouaddou's side finally got their Betway Premiership campaign up and running with a 1-0 victory over Stellenbosch on August 20, while they reached the MTN8 final for a fourth consecutive year by eliminating Mamelodi Sundowns on penalties last weekend.

However, the Sea Robbers had to come from behind in both legs of the semifinals to earn 1-1 draws with the Brazilians, as new signing Kamogelo Sebelebele made an immediate impact after scoring the two equalisers.

Debutants Orbit College are just behind the Soweto giants on goal difference in 12th place after also picking up three points from their opening three matches.

Pogiso Makhoye's side, who earned a historic promotion via the playoffs, went down 1-0 to AmaZulu on August 9 before recording their maiden win against Siwelele (1-0) three days later.

The North West outfit then crashed to a heavy 3-0 loss against Babina Noko, who occupy top spot in the league on goal difference ahead of Kaizer Chiefs.

What was said:

Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou

"I said it before that when you go to the cinema and you don't like the movie or you go to the theatre and you don't like the play, you can criticise it because you paid for the ticket.

"When the fans are not happy because you are not winning, I understand them. What can I do? The only thing is to work hard in silence and to be passionate. I am doing the job with passion.

"I'm very happy for our fans who come in and pack the stadium. But when I leave this room my mind will be on the game against Orbit.

"We don't have time to celebrate... as a coach you have to quickly think about the next game. I'm doing my job and I'm going to prepare the strategy for the next game."

Players to watch:

Orlando Pirates - Kamogelo Sebelebele has hit the ground running at Pirates after making the move from TS Galaxy in July. The 23-year-old winger helped the defending champions reach the MTN8 final for the fourth time in five years with back-to-back goals against Sundowns and he opened his account in the league on his first start with a cracker from range against the Maroons.

Orbit College - The defence will need to step up after they were poor against Sekhukhune United. Thulani Jingana, who has started all three league games, had a particularly bad game as he was caught napping for Babina Noko's second and third goals after failing to pick up Vusumuzi Mncube and Tshepo Mokoane.