FCB Nyasa Big Bullets head coach Kalisto Pasuwa was back in front of the media on Tuesday ahead of our midweek TNM Super League match against Mighty Tigers at Kamuzu Stadium.
Wednesday’s match comes 72 hours after we faced Kamuzu Barracks in the semifinals of the Airtel Top 8 in Lilongwe.
In his pre-match press conference, Pasuwa discussed the rate at which games are being played, his squad update, his thoughts on the Kau Kau Boys, Yankho Singo’s form and more.
Below is the full transcript of Pasuwa’s presser…
On facing Tigers after a convincing 2-0 victory over Kamuzu Barracks to reach the Airtel Top 8 final…
I would talk about the management of players. I also think what is being done in football here [in Malawi] is that we are not considering the health of the players. Remember last year, I think we were one team with half of the team injured, and no one was even blaming the fixtures; it was the coaches, to the extent of asking about the team’s fitness trainer. But also, I am saying we play a game, players need to recover, and then, if it’s the case of going into another game, we go with fresh legs. But what is happening now since last year, we had players in the bus where we ended up travelling to play three games, maybe with these boys out of their houses for two weeks, and this season, we started off the same way again with half of the team injured. Now, the same thing is still going on, and if you can see the fixtures we are playing, we are travelling a lot. We have been going to Lilongwe, we play a game, we come back here and we play another game. So, you play on Sunday, Monday is for recovery, and then on Tuesday, you prepare them for a game on Wednesday, but if you can see here, don’t compare ourselves with foreign leagues where they travel by air. They can take 30 minutes from Lilongwe to Blantyre, and we take four to five hours on the road, which is not safe for us.
Coming to [our next game], unfortunately, we need to fulfil that fixture. But, one thing again that comes to my mind is why are we rushing when we are playing a cup final [on Saturday]? The other teams are not playing a league match. If they were playing a game, of course, we could have said, it’s okay, we can go, but they are not playing, and you force us to go and play, then after playing, we travel almost 350 kilometres to go and play a final in the space of a day or two, which is not okay. But yes, we will sit down with the boys and see how best we can tackle it.
On his expectations facing Tigers after sharing the points after a 1-1 draw in the first round…
Obviously, any team that plays against Bullets will come hard on us. Everyone wants to play for the so-called big teams in the country, and you can even see the way they play against us, good football, where you can say why are they in this position which they are now. They are motivated. So, it’s us as Bullets on how to approach these teams to have points when we are playing against those teams. So, as you can see now, each and every team that we are facing now, we try to raise our tempo, we try to push ourselves in order to take the points.
On injuries…
In the last game that we played, we played Alick Lungu, and fortunately, he finished off 90 minutes, but again, he is a player who is coming from an injury; you also need to see how best you can manage him. We are playing again on the artificial turf, and that’s one turf which is very dangerous to players in terms of the surface when they are playing football, so we need to see how best we can manage him and some of the guys, they are still on rehab and any day they might come back.
On Mike Mkwate’s recovery update…
He is still in the hands of doctors. In Mike’s case, it’s a crucial one that needs proper attention to manage him well.
On why Bullets has been suffering the most injuries…
I have been talking about travelling. As you can see, Bullets plays so many games. Bullets can reach a final of each and every cup which is played in the country, and if you look, it’s one load, two, the number of players that we are having at that time and also, at times, we are not being protected, and I have seen it on several times, especially on fractures. You could see a player in direct contact with another player, and you could see that this one deserved a red card, but the officials were not doing anything, and all players who were having fractures, mostly the players whom we were playing with, were not cautioned. Also, as coaches, we need to manage our teams. I have been doing it a lot where I have been trying to rotate the team; although we need results, we are forced to do it in order to end the season.
Then, coming to the surface part, it’s the grounds that we are playing, but it’s a case also where other teams would ask me to say, ‘You are talking about surfaces when our teams are also playing on these surfaces,’ but I am saying, Bullets, instead of playing 30 games per season, they will end playing 60/62 games, that is if they are doing well in each and every cup they are playing. They will end up going to the final or even any celebration that is being organised; Bullets are invited [to play], so those are some of the reasons that make us have so many injuries.
Then, also not running away from the fact that as coaches, we also need to manage them [players] in terms of muscles. You see, as coaches, we do our part, and as a player, players need time to say, ‘If my bicep is not okay, I need to go into the gym and manage it to protect myself. It’s not also a coach’s job. You can do extras on your own. But again, we, as coaches, also need to look into it. But do we have time to say we can go to the gym and do it? We don’t, because of the fixtures that we are having, like in this scenario where we played on Sunday, [travelled then trained on] Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday you playing again, at times, you can overload the players, and you will end up maybe also giving injuries to the players.
On the absence of some players, including Matthews Masamba and Sean McBrams…
On those guys who are not playing when we rotate, we do that rotation knowing fully that if I play John, he has been a regular, and he will stabilise the central link. We can’t do a rotation at times when you are not getting results. You need to do it knowing that if I take him, he can be guided by Mike, who is in that central midfield, so you can’t put maybe three central midfielders who don’t have confidence. If you look at Masamba and these other guys, our central midfield is already congested. As you can see, I have been rotating it each and every week, but at times also, we look at results in order for us to be getting some points. Then, the same thing again with the little boy Sean. On the other hand, we had a lot of players who were playing on the sides where we ended up having problems playing him, but with time, we will try to play him.
On Yankho Singo’s impressive form…
Football is all about patience. If I can tell you, there was a time when he wanted to quit football. He had gone home to say, ‘I can’t play football anymore’. We had to follow him, talk to him and give him a picture, or even the mother said no to playing football again and try to concentrate on work. But we told her about the talent the boy has. Yes, of course, there was that pressure when we needed results. So, we had to sit down with him and correct where he was making mistakes, and he responded well. If you can see that boy, he is one player who covers the ground, or even on the gadgets, as you know, football is becoming scientific now. If you can see our data [analysis], he is always on top of his game, [and] covers a lot of distance when he is playing.
