Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has explained his work to refine Tshepang Moremi and how he is getting the best out of the Bafana Bafana winger.
Moremi is one of the Buccaneers’ top performers this season, and his form has peaked after scoring five goals and providing an assist in his last five games across different competitions. In total, the 26-year-old has managed eight club goals and an assist in 13 games across all competitions.
The form has also helped him maintain his place in Pitso Mosimane’s Bafana setup despite initially being excluded from the final squad for the September FIFA period. After being an unused substitute during the 2027 AFCON qualifiers against Guinea and Eritrea, Moremi was then handed 45 minutes of action in the international friendly match against Egypt.
He would be hoping his Pirates form will help earn more game time when South Africa tackle Kenya in back-to-back AFCON qualifiers against Kenya in November.
WHAT OUADDOU TOLD TSHEPANG MOREMI TO BE EFFICIENT
Ouaddou’s work to keep Moremi on top of his game appears to be paying dividends. The coach says he has told the player to use his pace to the maximum and be efficient as a winger.
“Look, you know, to be a coach, it’s not only about planning training exercises, drills, team talks and the game model. It’s important to analyse the profile and the qualities of your players in order to draw or deliver a game model that can suit them,” Ouaddou told journalists at a Carling Knockout media event in Parktown, Johannesburg, on Thursday.
“Speaking about the player [Moremi], I know that in modern football there are a lot of people watching big teams, Manchester City, Barcelona, all these teams, and everybody wants to have inverted players.
“But sometimes, even though I want to have inverted players, the quality of the players is sometimes to be simple and to be a winger. He is not a number 10, and I cannot convert him into a 10.
“I always say to Moremi that you have a special quality that you are gifted with. God gave you a special quality, and this is speed.
“I told him, you know, if I was a player, I wanted to have your speed. Maybe I could walk until the end of the world. I cannot have your speed. I will walk a little bit, but you have to use this speed efficiently. When you are going to understand that you have to use your quality, you are going to be efficient.
“So, it’s what we did. I cannot go deep to tell you how we use his speed and where we use it because I’m going to give you the plan. But he’s using his quality in a wonderful way that helps the team and helps his teammates.”
‘MOREMI CANNOT BE MOFOKENG’: ABDESLAM OUADDOU INSISTS
Ouaddou has emphasised that Moremi has his own identity as a player and might not thrive by imitating Relebohile Mofokeng or Oswin Appollis’ style of play.
“But again, I told him, if he wants to be Mofokeng, he can’t be Mofokeng. He has to stay Moremi, and Mofokeng cannot be Moremi,” the ex-Morocco defender went on.
“If he wants to be Appollis, he will not be Appollis, and Appollis cannot be Moremi. Actually, he really understands where I want to bring him, how I want to play him, and it’s working for him, I’m happy.
“The most important thing for me is when I see Moremi happy at the end of the game, with a smile. He’s able to score, he’s able to feed his teammates, he’s not selfish, so he’s going to go far like that.”
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