Abdeslam Ouaddou explains why Pirates had a slow start

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Ouaddou on Bucs' sluggish start

Photo: Zakes Photography

Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has explained the reason behind the Buccaneers' slow start to the 2025/26 campaign.

The Soweto giants suffered back-to-back defeats in the Betway Premiership at the beginning of the Moroccan's tenure, prompting a section of the Bucs faithful to call for his sacking two month into the job.

Ouaddou admits he felt immense pressure to turn things around, as expectations were high having succeeded Jose Riveiro, who won five domestic cup titles in three years with Pirates.

“When you lose two games of course, especially in such a big club, there is straight away a fire in the house, and you need to find solutions. So, of course I cannot lie to you and say I didn't feel the pressure. But I still feel the pressure in every games,” he said.

"When you don't have this pressure every games, you need to stop that job, this positive pressure helps you to deliver a performance and to be better and better.

The 47-year-old tactician attributed the sluggish start to having a plethora of new signings to integrate into the squad, and credited them for quickly grasping his style of play, which ultimately paid dividends.

“But on the other hand, if I go back a little bit to the beginning, when you have 10 new players, especially they need to get your ideas, your game model - I think the guys did well because quickly they got the ideas, they know exactly the expectations,” Ouaddou added.

"But sometimes in some clubs they take three, four months to adapt to the ideas of the coach. So, I'm quite satisfied about the way they reacted and it helped us to have some result.

Ouaddou has since guided Pirates to the MTN8 title and recently won the Carling Knockout Cup this past Saturday - the club's first League Cup triumph since the 2011/12 campaign.