Peter Mponda held his pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of FCB Nyasa Big Bullets’ TNM Super League encounter against Chitipa United at Kamuzu Stadium.
He offered his perspective on the squad’s preparations and the measures in place to guard against complacency after our strong start to the season.
Mponda also discussed the significance of last Wednesday’s victory away at Dedza Dynamos, the first team’s captaincy and what he expects from Sunday’s opposition, among other issues.
Here is the complete transcript of Mponda’s media briefing.
On preparations
The preparations are going on very well, though it has been up and down travelling. We had seven players with the national team, they didn’t have enough time to rest; it reflected when we played Dedza Dynamos, most of them didn’t play the way we know them, but still they gave us a result. So, I will say that preparations are going on well, we need to find a balance between preparing for Chitipa and make sure that the players who traveled with the national team recover fully.
On keeping five clean sheets in five matches
I will not say that the defence is fully where we want them to be; they’re not at 100 per cent, we are still lacking, sometimes we find ourselves in spaces, but yes they’ve been very good, weve only conceded one goal, which is a good thing. I think the strength is we’ve been keeping the ball, we’ve been starving the opponents from the ball, that’s why we’re saying the defense is looking much better, but they’re not yet there.
On our first win away at Dedza
It was very good that we got our first win in Dedza, but the way we celebrated, I think we reduced ourselves to the level of these other teams. When everyone is playing Bullets, they have that respect that we’re playing the biggest team in the country, so I didn’t like the way we celebrated in Dedza, but yes, they deserve that celebration because it has taken years for us to win in Dedza.
More on Chitipa United
It will be a tough game. Chitipa United’s playing style tends to trouble us, and with the match at Kamuzu Stadium, we expect them to be challenging opponents. Nevertheless, I believe with the hunger that my players have we will get the result.
On the team’s captaincy
Being a captain is not about wearing the arm band. It’s about leadership. Now, I want to confirm that starting from today, the captain is Lloyd Aaron and the second captain is Yankho Singo. But also, in the bracket we’ve got Babatunde, Mike Mkwate, Frank Willard, and Richard Chimbamba. If Aaron or Singo are not there, those four can also wear the armband. We have got reasons for these decisions. Senaji was already communicated three weeks ago, it’s not an issue to him. It’s an in-house issue, which we cannot communicate to everyone, but Senaji received it well.”
Message to the players ahead of the fifth league match with a perfect 12-point start
They are feeling good that they’re playing good football and are also winning games. Firstly, we have warned them against complacency because the results they got from the four games, they didn’t just come on a silver platter, they worked so hard to get those results. But also winning those four games convincingly with that good performance gives them a lot of confidence that, yes, we are playing Chitipa, it’s a tough team, but we need another three points.
On Gamphani, Henderson and Musonda
For Gamphani, it’s just a matter of time, he’s knocking, he’s training well. But you can also see that in his position there’s Chikumbutso [Salima] who is doing very well. Gamphani is a good player, he’s been patient. I told him to keep on working, his chance will come. For Musonda, he has been out, he went to get his passport [in Zambia] and is also working on getting his work permit, whereas for Chikumbutso [Henderson], he was having a big injury [and] he just started training recently, he needs to work on his fitness. But also, if we look at the defence, the guys are doing very well, we cannot just change the defence; we have been worried about our defence, the coordination is coming from the guys that are playing; yes, we need to rotate, but those guys are giving us the performance, we cannot just change.
On the first-choice goalkeeper
For now, I will not say that we don’t have a first-choice goalkeeper. We play them according to the opposition we’re playing, which ground we’re playing. Both Innocent Nyasulu and Richard Chimbamba have played very well, competition is also very good, which is good for both of them and the team.
On injuries
For now, we still have the same injured players. Peter Banda and Chrispin Mapemba are still not available, but apart from those two, our squad is okay, everyone is available for selection.
