Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has pointed out areas where new striker Sebastian Pedersen needs to improve following his debut for the Soweto giants on Saturday afternoon in Polokwane.
Pedersen came on for Yanela Mbuthuma with 25 minutes remaining in Pirates’ 1-0 win over Sekhukhune United in the MTN8 semi-final first leg at Old Peter Mokaba Stadium.
The 27-year-old Norwegian had one attempt on goal, which went off target. It was a quiet debut for the striker, though he has already become a fan favorite at the club, earning the nickname ‘Baby Haaland’ before even taking to the pitch.
Speaking after the match, Ouaddou admitted that Pedersen still needs to build up his fitness before he is fully match-ready.
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“I think he came with a lot of aim to score and I think he got a chance to open his scoring account,” said Ouaddou.
“He fought and he joined the fighting spirit of our team. You can see that he’s clever in the game. He goes into the space that we need to find him and his technical quality is very interesting. I am sure that he’s going to really help the team but like I said in the previous press conference, the basics in football, even when you have such qualities, you need good preparation,” he added.
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“You need to be ready physically and we can see today [Saturday] that after 15 minutes he was short physically. We will keep working with him in order to bring him to the high level of fitness that I want for my game model. Actually he still needs to increase his physical work in order to be able to show his quality because he has qualities.”
“The league has specificity and we don’t have to think that because you come from Europe it will be easy. Here, the PSL is at a good level. There is speed, impact and organised teams. So I think the level is high but I am sure he will get ready quickly.”
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