Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has explained his decision to manage Oswin Appollis’ minutes, stressing the importance of protecting the forward as he continues to regain full fitness.

The 25-year-old has featured in all five of Pirates opening matches, having scored one goal in the process.

However, Appollis is yet to complete a full 90 minutes this campaign due to his fitness levels since returning from the World Cup.

Ouaddou says the demands of the World Cup and a congested start to the season have left several international players fatigued, making careful workload management crucial to avoid further injuries within the Pirates squad.

“Appollis is Appollis you know him. He’s somebody that is 50% I can even say 40% and he can score at any moment so, we are not surprised. He’s not only the player that is not in the fitness state that we want. In Europe as well all the guys who have been in the World Cup, we can see that it’s difficult for them.

“With our performance department, medical department, the technical staff, we are doing everything for him to come back in the good shape. And for that today in the game he’s improving. And today it was a moment for us to protect him maybe for him to rest and not to risk any injury because I have been saying this since the beginning, I knew that all these international players they will be tired.

“And in order to protect them I need to anticipate any game injuries. It’s my job to do that sometimes the players they don’t understand it they are not happy to go out. But it’s my duty to protect them because we have seen in other teams that I don’t want to mention they have unfortunately very big injuries.

“So, in Pirates we want to avoid that with our international players. We already have two players that have had surgery with Mbatha, and we have Makgopa injured as well so we don’t want to have more players injured because the season will be very long.”