Orlando Pirates striker Tshegofatso Mabasa has opened up about his struggles for game time under the new coach, Abdeslam Ouaddou, in the new 2025/26 season.
The Sea Robbers appointed Ouaddou as the new head coach in the off-season following the departure of Jose Riveiro, who decided against renewing his contract at the club.
Ouaddou has made several changes to the Pirates’ setup since his arrival, leaving some key players out of the match-day squad. Mabasa has been one of the players who have seen limited game-time at Pirates under the leadership of the Moroccan coach.
The highly-rated forward missed the first four matches of the season at Pirates in all competitions, with Boitumelo Radiopane preferred to lead the striking force.
In the four matches he has played so far, Mabasa has only been in the starting line-up once, and he was used as a second-half substitute in the other three matches.
Interestingly, the Bafana Bafana international has been Pirates’ top goal scorer in the past two seasons. In the past campaign, the former Bloemfontein Celtic star scored 15 goals in 48 games across all competitions.
WHAT MABASA SAID ABOUT HIS LIMITED GAME-TIME AT PIRATES
As Mabasa looks to regain his best form at Pirates, he has spoken out about being excluded from the matchday squad in the first four matches, revealing that he kept working hard.
“Personally, what was going through my mind is just to keep on working hard and keep on improving,” Mabasa said at Rand Stadium during the Soweto giants’ media open day on Tuesday.
“Each and every day that I step onto the field, I want to improve, especially in training. With the meetings that I had with the coach, I understood that it wasn’t my time yet.
“Maybe the guys that are playing ahead of me, Radiopane, for example, deserved this chance with the way that he expressed himself in training, you know, and all the way from the pre-season.
“Same with Evidence [Makgopa], whoever is there [playing] deserves to be there. It was them who were chosen, and we knew that they were capable of doing the job.”
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