Revealed: Why Pirates Are Protecting ‘Tired…

(Photo by Philip Maeta/Gallo Images)

Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has explained the slow start to the season experienced by Oswin Appollis, revealing that the Bafana Bafana international is being carefully managed after the demands of the FIFA World Cup.

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With Relebohile Mofokeng departing the club, expectations of Appollis have significantly increased, but he has yet to reach the levels expected of him at the start of the campaign.

Ouaddou, however, insists there is no concern over the player’s ability and believes Appollis remains one of the jewels in Pirates’ squad. Instead, the French-Moroccan coach says the priority is ensuring the 24-year-old reaches full fitness without being exposed to the risk of a serious injury.

“He’s one of our best players. And when you have a diamond in your house, you have to protect him. Appollis is Appollis, you know him. It’s somebody, even if he’s 50%, let’s say even 40%, he can score at any moment. So we are not surprised,” Ouaddou explained.

The Pirates coach believes Appollis’ situation is not unique, pointing to the struggles experienced by players across Europe who featured at the World Cup and have subsequently had to deal with the physical demands of another long season.

“Even in Europe, all the guys who have been in the World Cup, we can see that it’s difficult for them. With our performance department, medical department, the technical staff, we are doing everything for him to come back in good shape,” Ouaddou said.

“For that, today, I think every game is improving, and today it was a moment for us to protect him, maybe for him to rest and not to risk any injury.”

The coach’s comments come against the backdrop of a particularly demanding period for international players. Ouaddou says he anticipated before the season began that those who had been involved at the World Cup would be susceptible to fatigue and that managing their workload would be crucial.

“I knew that all these international players, they will be tired. And in order to protect them, I need to anticipate any big injuries. It’s my job to do that,” he explained.

Avoiding injuries

Ouaddou also appeared to reference the serious injury suffered by Mamelodi Sundowns defender Khuliso Mudau, as an example of the consequences he wants Pirates to avoid.

“Sometimes the players, they don’t understand it. They are not happy to go out. But it’s my duty to protect them because we have seen in other teams that I don’t want to mention that they had unfortunately very big injuries.”

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Pirates have already experienced the consequences of injuries to their own Bafana players this season, with Thalente Mbatha undergoing surgery while Evidence Makgopa is also sidelined.

“We have already two players that made the surgery in Mbatha and we have Makgopa injured as well. So we don’t want to have more players injured because the season will be very long.”

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