Orlando Pirates News Today: Why Ouaddou is not happy despite big win, Mbatha’s absence explained & more

Latest Orlando Pirates news, including Abdeslam Ouaddou’s disappointment despite beating TS Galaxy 3-0 and why Thalente Mbatha did not play.

Why Ouadou is not happy despite Pirates’ big win

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou may have seen his team rise to the occasion to beat TS Galaxy 3-0 but he was not overly impressed by their overall display.

Pirates bounced back from their 2-0 loss to Mamelodi Sundowns in the MTN8 final on Saturday with a clinical performance against Galaxy on Tuesday night to maintain their unbeaten start in the league with goals from Boitumelo Radiopane, Tshepang Moremi and Simphiwe Masilela sealing the win.

Victory left Pirates one point behind Sundowns on the Betway Premiership table and with a game in hand over the Brazilians but there are aspects of the game that Ouaddou was not happy with.

“We will retain today the result because to be honest I cannot be satisfied how we managed the game, how we kept the possession, we lost too much the ball in the middle and I think for a team of a high level you cannot lose such many balls in the middle – too much transition moment,” he told SuperSport TV as quoted by KickOff.

“And I think it’s something that bothered me to be honest, we have to fix this, we have to fix this, but let’s be happy, let’s congratulate the boys, we had I think a good moment to imbalance that opponent.

“It was not easy, we played against a good TS Galaxy, very compact and I think we managed to break this block, finding the spaces between the lines to overload, we wanted to overload this midfielder and to play in-behind I think we did it but let’s rest the boys and think for the Champions League.”

Mbatha’s absence against Galaxy explained

Meanwhile, Ouaddou has clarified why midfielder Thalente Mbatha was not utilised during Tuesday’s match, having returned to action at the weekend.

Mbatha made his long-awaited return in the MTN8 final after two months out with an injury, and it was hoped that he would play a part in the game against Galaxy but he was missing instead.

“When he came back from the national team, he had surgery and we did everything to bring him back in terms of rehabilitation and I think it was a surprise for you to see him in the MTN8 final,” Ouaddou said after Tuesday’s game.

This is why Thalente Mbatha didn’t play against TS Galaxy. ☠️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/L2ao3A9L2d

— SoccerBeat (@SoccerBeatZA) October 13, 2026

“I was so amazed about his performance in the final. It has been a long time that I did not see such quality of Mbatha. High level, so we don’t want to take risks with Mbatha.

“He is an important player for us and we played two days after [MTN8 final] and we do not want to take any risk about him,” the Moroccan coach further stated.