Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro says both Souaibou Marou and Evidence Makgopa can succeed at the club despite playing bit-part roles this season.
Makgopa arrived at the start of the season but suffered an injury a week prior to the DStv Premiership kicking off which set his progress back considerably while Marou was a mid-season signing arriving straight after the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar with Cameroon.
Neither striker has yet to start but have been used from the bench in recent weeks and this publication poses Riveiro the question if they fit into his tactical system, as Kermit Erasmus and Terrence Dzvukamanja – who have been used more often, hold very different profile.s
“Uh… they are definitely… I spoke about Evidence in the week, I think he has fantastic potential to be an important football player,” Riveiro said when asked if they could fit into his system by iDiski Times.
“I don’t think Evidence is not exactly a target-man, he’s not a [traditional] number nine, he’s a number nine who also needs space to explode, to run – we tried when we substituted Kermit, because they changed to back-four so we didn’t need a link anymore.
“We needed a player who can manage with the physical side, as SuperSport centre-back are very physical and strong, we needed someone fresh to deal with that to put the two centre-backs together and at the same time trying to use the space Lorch creates.
“Those are the types of spaces we feel Makgopa could do better for us. In this game, the same with Marou, the full-back was tired, Marou is a strong player physically, he can run, and he can give you a bad time if he can [get you 1v1], so we try to be aggressive with those coming in bringing in more physical capacities than the players substituted.”
The Spaniard, who earlier this season stated there’s a ‘transfer committee who deals with incomings and outgoings, that he too, is part of, stated that the entire squad fits into his plans and different games, require different players.
“Everybody fits in the squad as long as they are ready to contribute, you know if Evidence is coming to the field and he’s giving something, it’s because he’s working well during the week – the same with Marou,” he added.
“That is what you like as a coach, whatever is called from the bench is giving you an honest performance like they did, but I understand your questions and sometimes depending on the scenario you find, some players fit better than others.
“Actually the decisions I make as a coach and I guess we all do, it’s about that – we chose the players who we think can help us win, it doesn’t mean the others can’t but we try to find the proper profiles to do that, not the players I like the most, if you understand me.”
