CAPE TOWN – Mystery surrounded the appointment of Stephane Adam as a “finishing coach” at Orlando Pirates earlier this season.
The Ghost were asking: Who is this guy? What does a finishing coach do exactly?
And the Buccaneers fans may also have wondered why they needed someone to coach finishing specifically, as Pirates scored 41 goals in 30 league games in ending second last season – only behind champions Mamelodi Sundowns, who generated 49 goals in 30 matches.
But coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic has made it clear that he wants to challenge Sundowns and also compete strongly in the Caf Champions League, and Adam’s arrival in Orlando is supposed to bolster their goal tally.
The 49-year-old Frenchman told Pirates TV in a recent video that he is at the club to work on the technique of the strikers.
“I worked exclusively with the strikers, and we work on the situation we find in a game – developing techniques, making corrections. And it’s about positioning and trying to be the most efficient as possible when it comes to finish the action,” the former Lille and Hearts front man said.
“To finish is to have the ability to take the right decision at the right time… To have the proper technique. To finish the action and to get the good gesture to score the goals.
“It is also a very mental problem as a striker. I think a striker has to have an obsession for goals. It’s really important for offensive players to (put) yourself into positions and situations to score goals.”
Pirates have scored seven goals in six league games so far, and are in fourth position after three wins, a draw and two defeats for a tally of 10 points.
Thamsanqa Gabuza is perhaps his most difficult project, considering the battles he’s had over the years, which saw him throw his jersey into the crowd and walk off the pitch in a recent clash against Black Leopards.
Adam, though, believes that his methods will take time to take effect.
“You (must) want to do it, even if you miss an action – you have to forget about it and focus on the next one. And that’s a very mentality problem,” he said.
“My target is to make them confident, to make them (keen) to score and obsess about it, like I said. The more they can score, the better it will be. But it’s a long-term process. I’m pretty sure there will be some improvement.”
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