Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has shared a candid assessment of Masindi Nemtajela after the midfielder’s stellar performance in a recent league game for the Soweto giants.
The talented midfielder produced a Man-of-the-Match display during Pirates’ 2-0 win over TS Galaxy in the Betway Premiership on Tuesday at Orlando Stadium.
Nemtajela was in the starting line-up for the first time in Pirates colours after joining the club in the off-season from Marumo Gallants.
The attacking midfielder imposed himself immediately in his first start, displaying good composure and stringing sharp passes in the middle of the park to help Pirates secure maximum points against the Rockets.
Nemtajela was directly involved in Pirates’ opening goal: he was fouled in the opposition box, resulting in the penalty that Evidence Makgopa successfully converted. The Buccaneers sealed their victory with the second goal, netted by Tshegofatso Mabasa in the dying minutes of the match.
WHAT OUADDOU SIAD ABOUT MASINDI NEMTAJELA
Abdeslam Ouaddou has praised Nemtajela’s contribution, revealing that the player’s hard work in training is now translating to the pitch.
“It’s very important to know the qualities of a player. I can tell you that he’s one of the players who helped us to have a fantastic season last season in the previous club [Gallants],” Ouaddou told the media.
“So I know him not 100% but 1000%. But he arrived in a club with a very strong dimension, a lot of competition, and a lot of fantastic players.
“It’s very important to keep the communication clear with trust and belief, so it’s what we did, and his professionalism helped him as well because Masindi is always giving his best at training, he’s fantastic. Like I said, with all impact players, as I said, I never call my players substitutes. So the impact player has to be ready when the coach calls them.
“And not only him, if you notice all the players coming in the second half, they are doing fantastic, it’s showing that the spirit in the dressing room is fantastic. I’m a proud coach when I see that I have such mentality in the dressing room,” added the ex-Gallants coach.
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