With crowd attendance looking impressive for the big teams early in the season, the reason for Orlando Pirates' poor start could have been revealed.
Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou was baptized with a sell out crowd at Orlando Stadium in his first match, the MTN8 quarter-final against Polokwane City, where expectations were raised in a 2-0 victory.
The Buccaneers, however, under a huge crowd attendance even in their opening Betway Premiership encounter against Sekhukhune United, failed to deliver and the Soweto giants lost also their second league game against Marumo Gallants, with new signings predominantly featuring.
READ | Pirates star explains what went wrong in shock Gallants defeat
Although the reason behind the dominant criticism that too many changes to Pirates' regular line-up affected the team cohesion, according to former Kaizer Chiefs defender Fabian McCarthy, changing the line-up too often also disturbs how players develop understanding with each other, particularly playing in front of big crowds.
"I think they (Pirates) are missing one or two of the leaders (at the back), because remember if you're playing for Chiefs, Pirates or Sundowns you're not going to hear your teammate, you need to understand them and be aware of the noise you get in an official game," McCarthy, one of the MTN8 ambassadors said on 947's MSW ahead of the semi-finals over the weekend.
READ | 'Ouaddou is setting himself up for failure'
"You need to get that understanding that if he goes left, I need to follow or if he goes right I need to step up or hold back, that has to come (by getting used to each other) but if you're gonna change it every second game then it's gonna be a problem and that's the main aspect that wins you championships.
"And communication, because believe you me, I never heard (Patrick) Mabedi or 'Skhokho' (Cyril Nzama) when we were playing, I just heard Brian (Baloyi) or Rowen (Fernandez) using third or fourth languages if you didn't do anything right," McCarthy added.
Pirates back-four has changed often so far under the former Marumo Gallants head coach, with new entrants Tshepo Mashiloane and Lebone Seema criticized so far.
The MTN8 semi-final first-leg clash between The Buccaneers and Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday afternoon is sold out.
