FCB Nyasa Big Bullets head coach Kalisto Pasuwa says he is concerned about the congested fixtures.
He said this before Sunday’s TNM Super League encounter against MAFCO at Kamuzu Stadium.
The defending champions will welcome MAFCO 72 hours after our arrival from the North, where we defeated Baka City 1-0 in Karonga before the goalless draw against Mzuzu City Hammers on Wednesday.
In an interview with club media after regrouping on Friday, Pasuwa shared his thoughts.
“It’s another game that we are playing in a space of three days and on top of that, we travelled a long distance from Blantyre to Karonga and Karonga to Mzuzu before returning home. These are games which are coming within the shortest period.
“One thing to consider is the health of the players. Can they manage? I am very worried because people will ask why Bullets are having so many injuries. But we are not looking at where we are coming from,” said Pasuwa.
“Since last year, if you can see the fixtures and how we have been playing games, including travelling long distances without much recovery, hence having these injuries, this will affect your plans throughout the current season to the other season.
“The trend is going on until today when we had two games in the North, we came back, and we also have a game on Sunday. You need to manage well on the recovery part; otherwise, it’s not manageable.
“People tend to question why I rotate these players, but much as I would want to win, as a coach, I also look at the health of my players. I was a player before and know what I am talking about. The way we play games here makes it very difficult for a player to last for more than ten years playing on bumpy and hard surfaces and artificial turf. It becomes tough for one to last long. We need to think about these players. They are humans,” he expressed.
Giving his preview of Sunday’s game, Pasuwa said Bullets must be focused. He said Mafco, like all the 15 teams in the Super League, will come hard on the defending champions.
“It’s a game that we need to be very positive in approach. We lack consistency where we play well today, and the next day, we drop. But again, most of the players have now seen that even a social team can give Bullets a torrid time because they want to make history of their own. It’s a challenge for us to overcome. Mafco will come very hard on us; we need to get ready and find a means of winning the match,” he explained.
In recent games, Bullets have looked like a team playing under pressure at Kamuzu Stadium than they have looked away from home, which Pasuwa believes has something to do with the players’ mental aspect where they are failing to handle pressure in front of the home fans.
“I don’t know what is happening to the players, but for sure, it has everything to do with their mental strength. I have been talking about the mental aspect of it. Yes, that’s Kamuzu Stadium where we have been winning games, and it was a surprise to the players to see the team losing games, but it’s us who put ourselves in this situation, and we will take the team out of this situation.
“We quickly need to come back to our senses and make our home ground a fortress to every opposition the way we used to in the past. That’s our home ground. We cannot run away from it, and if something is making us not win games, we need to correct it and move on.”
The gaffer expressed his satisfaction with his players’ defence in their last two games in the North, in which they kept two clean sheets.
“It is also complacency in us at times. From transition to attack, then we are caught off-guard, and we lose the ball to our opponents, who will end up scoring. It’s something that we need to keep on pushing so that we come out good.
“The players need to know that the moment they have the ball, they can lose it, and they need to win it back quickly. We have been doing it where we have focused more on defence, and it’s slowly coming out.”
After Sunday’s game, Bullets will switch to the Castel Challenge Cup Round of 64 match against non-league Blantyre Rural side Kumanda Stars at Kamuzu Stadium.
