Pirates coach looking to juggle selection

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou wants to get his squad back to full fitness as quickly as possible to ensure he has many players to choose from as their fixture demands get more intense.

After Sunday’s clash against Chippa United in Gqeberha (live on SuperSport, kick off 3pm), Pirates will have played eight matches in the first month of the new campaign and with participation in the African Champions League coming up next month, they face an even more hectic schedule as they juggle commitments both domestic and continental.

“We have such a big squad, and we are playing many competitions,” Ouaddou said.

“So like I always say, everybody will be important in the team. Everybody will have time to show his abilities in the team, depending on the situation, regarding the games and the competitions that will come.”

The Pirates coach referred to the case of 34-year-old left-wingback Deon Hotto, who he took off at halftime on Tuesday when he showed signs of fatigue against Orbit College in their 1-0 victory in the Betway Premiership.

“With Hotto, we have to manage him because we are playing every three days, and I am not sure that if we want to protect the health of the players and for them to perform in the season, we can overplay them,” he added.

“A coach in modern football needs to manage the players’ time and you cannot play them every three days. So, it will be very important to have all these players coming back from injury, because we will be able to maybe rotate and to have fresh players for every game,” he said.

Pirates have centre-backs Olisah Ndah and Nkosinathi Sibisi back training after injury and Thabiso Sesane should return in the next months, after a serious knee injury suffered in February.

Relebogile Mofokeng sat out Tuesday’s match, but Ouaddou said it was a minor niggle that just required some rest.

Last season’s winner of the Betway Premiership Midfielder of the Season award, the 35-year-old Makhehleni Makhaula and Selaelo Rasebotja have both been struggling with injury.