{"id":25102,"date":"2025-08-26T11:35:39","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T09:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/?p=25102"},"modified":"2026-03-12T09:58:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T07:58:03","slug":"orlando-pirates-new-approach-under-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/orlando-pirates-new-approach-under-scrutiny\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Pirates\u2019 New Approach Under Scrutiny After Early Maswanganyi Substitution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Former Orlando Pirates midfielder Xola Mlambo has voiced his concerns over whether Patrick \u2018Tito\u2019 Maswanganyi is best suited to the Soweto giants\u2019 evolving style of play. This is under new coach Abdeslam Ouaddou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maswanganyi found himself at the centre of debate after being substituted in the first half of Pirates\u2019 MTN8 semi-final second leg against Mamelodi Sundowns this past weekend. With Sundowns leading 1-0 on the day and 2-1 on aggregate, Ouaddou opted to replace Maswanganyi with Bandile Shandu just before half-time. The tactical switch proved effective. Pirates changed their attacking approach and eventually booked their place in the final. They won the tie on penalties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-mlambo-maswanganyi-needs-the-ball-more\">Mlambo: Maswanganyi Needs the Ball More<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking on the <em>Switch On Network<\/em> YouTube channel, Mlambo highlighted that Maswanganyi\u2019s strengths may not be fully utilised in Pirates\u2019 current setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201c Tito is a good player; he wouldn\u2019t be called up to the national team if he wasn\u2019t,\u201d said Mlambo. \u201cBut maybe the style of play of the coach is not suiting him. He\u2019s a ball player, not someone who\u2019s going to keep chasing and running up and down.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Mlambo suggested that Ouaddou should find ways to get Maswanganyi more involved in Pirates\u2019 build-up play. \u201cYou need to get him on the ball. If you\u2019re not allowing him to have the ball, you\u2019re limiting his creativity,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Pirates Beat Sundowns 4-1 on Pens | Can Nabi Keep Chiefs Unbeaten?\" width=\"755\" height=\"425\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SuqI1tiZmjA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"gaute-2381000713\" class=\"gaute-inbetween-content gaute-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-top: 30px;margin-bottom: 30px;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><div class=\"gaute-adlabel\">Advertisement<\/div><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1852772760112594\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1852772760112594\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"1819787043\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-tactical-adjustments-needed\">Tactical Adjustments Needed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The former midfielder also pointed out the challenges Maswanganyi faces in adapting to a system that relies heavily on diagonal passes. It also relies on compressed attacking spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cPlaying diagonal balls has its advantages, but when wingers act like half-10s, it creates an overload in tight areas. You need players who can thrive in that situation,\u201d Mlambo noted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>He added that <a href=\"https:\/\/iol.co.za\/sport\/soccer\/psl\/2025-08-26-former-player-questions-suitability-of-orlando-pirates-new-style-for-patrick-maswanganyi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maswanganyi<\/a> must also adapt to the demands of the system. \u201cWhen you\u2019re playing with diagonal passes from the centre-backs, the question becomes, how do I involve myself? As a player, you have to adjust, unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related article: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/cardoso-blames-fatigue-after-mamelodi-sundowns-mtn8-exit\/\">Cardoso Blames Fatigue After Mamelodi Sundowns\u2019 MTN8 Semi-Final Exit<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Orlando Pirates midfielder Xola Mlambo has voiced his concerns over whether Patrick \u2018Tito\u2019 Maswanganyi is best suited to the Soweto giants\u2019 evolving style of play. This is under new coach Abdeslam Ouaddou. Maswanganyi found himself at the centre of debate after being substituted in the first half of Pirates\u2019 MTN8 semi-final second leg against<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":25107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"Former Orlando Pirates midfielder Xola Mlambo has voiced his concerns over whether Patrick \u2018Tito\u2019 Maswanganyi is best suited to the Soweto giants\u2019 evolving...","footnotes":""},"categories":[56,64],"tags":[296,10114,273,9773,288],"class_list":{"0":"post-25102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"category-sports-news","9":"tag-betway-premiership","10":"tag-mtn8","11":"tag-orlando-pirates","12":"tag-psl-2025-26-season","13":"tag-soccer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25102"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25179,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25102\/revisions\/25179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}