Kalisto Pasuwa spoke to club media ahead of Sunday afternoon’s Airtel Top 8 semifinal clash against Kamuzu Barracks at the Bingu National Stadium.
The FCB Nyasa Big Bullets head coach spoke about Thursday’s performance against Premier Bet Dedza Dynamos, his thoughts on the opponents, the need to build a strong character within the team, and more.
Below is the full transcript of Pasuwa’s interview.
On moving on from Thursday’s frustrating draw…
We need to work with the last third of the attack. You saw on Thursday [against Dedza Dynamos] we were missing so many chances. We get into the box, we miss a chance, we come again, and the same story. We keep on missing. Then, they come, we are punished, and also after being punished, the response from us at times, we all look down. Yes, we have conceded, but we need to look up and play football and look for that equaliser and even a winner at the end of the day. So, it’s a character that we need in the team that will make us win games.
On where the character is missing…
I think it’s all about some of the senior players who are in the team who are also currently down and in [that] game, including Clyde Senaji; having him around would be very helpful as he is one person who can be talking [to fellow players on the pitch]. Offensive-wise, we were attacking, but it was the defensive part of it where we struggled. We had taller guys in the central defence, yet we were attacked through the centre, so we need someone who can lead the team, especially when we are down. We need these players to be talking, maybe a spinal of the team. When I talk of the spinal, I talk about the goalkeeper, defence, midfield, and attack, where we can help each other. It’s not a one-man show; we, as coaches, sit outside, and yes, we can be talking, but they are closer to each other inside the field of play, where they also need to be communicating. Yes, on the other part of it, we will make the corrections, and we will work on it to see how best we can sort it out urgently.
On the lack of consistency…
It has been hard this year for us to be playing consistently. When we played in the derby [against Mighty Mukuru Wanderers], we won, and everyone was expecting the same momentum [in the next match] to be on top of everything, but again, it’s not all these big teams that have been giving us problems, but it’s every team in the league coming hard on us. So, we need to switch on our character and prepare for everyone who comes in front of us, not to say we can only talk about these big teams when they are coming to our backyard. We need to prepare for everyone in order for us to do well.
On what he is expecting from KB…
Like any team in the competition, we just need to switch ourselves on to this game. This team, on a good day, we can beat everyone, but it’s the mindset of it. The moment you go with a negative attitude, you end up losing games. Kamuzu Barracks has always been a good team, especially against us, like all other teams. We need to be positive [facing them on Sunday] in order for us to go through to the next round.
