Nyasa Big Bullets are in Mzuzu for a TNM Super League encounter against Ekwendeni Hammers at the Mzuzu Stadium and head coach Kalisto Pasuwa had a pre-match interview with our media crew ahead of the Saturday clash.
The mentor discussed facing the fourth-placed rookies for the first time, the squad’s recovery part after traveling for close to 670 kilometers by road, his approach to the game and injury concerns.
Read on for a full transcript:
Coach, you have traveled all the way from Blantyre to Mzuzu, how are the players shaping interms of recovery?
“It’s coming up, but like I said when we were in Blantyre, we need to manage them, the recovery part of it should be very well planned in order to have them good when we play on Saturday. We have done our best and the morale amongst the players is very high. We trained this afternoon and the legs are okay, but we don’t know if tomorrow it will rain or not, but so far so good.”
Facing a side which you have never played before, a difficult match, is it?
“Very difficult match. I have been talking to our players and also each and everyone who is in the set up of Bullets that being one of the big teams in the country, every team would do everything in order to beat us and that’s where they make names. If some of their players play well, they can be called into the national team hence the reason why we have been telling our players to say in everything we do, is different whenever playing with these small teams and we need to raise our tempo in order to collect maximum points.”
Last week in Lilongwe, two points were dropped when you drew 0-0 against Mafco FC, how crucial are the three points tomorrow towards the title defence?
“Games come and go. We wanted three points last week, but we couldn’t collect them and again we are saying to our players to go out and also try to maximize this opportunity so that we close the gap against those above us, but [that said] we are not putting too much pressure on the boys, otherwise they will end up collapsing, so we need to talk to them wisely in order for us to come up with a win.”
Any fresh injuries ahead of the showdown tomorrow?
“We have been having injuries, but again we have been preparing eleven players who can face up a team when we are playing hence the reason why we were talking to say we shouldn’t say these are the first eleven. You saw the pre-season, which was short, and the danger of facing many injuries was there, so we ended up taking other guys who were out of the team due to several injuries. If we hadn’t prepared the other guys, we could have been in trouble by now, but I think everyone is ready to play and every player chosen to play in the first eleven should prove that they are part of the registered players to play for the club.”
