Before the biggest fixture in Malawian football, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets head coach Kalisto Pasuwa held his pre-match press conference at Blantyre Sports Club on Thursday.
Pasuwa’s men will face rivals Mighty Mukuru Wanderers in the FDH Bank Cup Round of 16 at Kamuzu Stadium on Sunday.
The Zimbabwean, who is eyeing his third successive FDH Bank Cup title, spoke about what’s needed for Bullets to bounce back from the 2-1 TNM Super League defeat away to Karonga United at the weekend.
He also discussed the mental aspect of his men ahead of their next challenge, our inconsistency in the 2024 season and the kind of opposition he expects from our neighbours, who reached this stage of the FDH Bank Cup following a 3-0 win over Cobbe Barracks.
Read on to find out everything Pasuwa said in the buildup to the 76th Blantyre derby, set up after Bullets defeated Bangwe All Stars 5-0 in the Round of 32 at the start of this month.
On how to get back to winning ways
Remember, we are into it and we have been into it before. We have come out from very tight areas, like last year, at one time, when people thought we would lose everything in terms of the cups that we were playing for, but we stood tall and managed to take everything which was on board. Yes, we are coming from a defeat and we know what it is to bounce back. We have also tried to address it in our training sessions and also mentally to see how these boys can respond. Remember, we have been talking about it to say like last year, we were just winning and to most of the guys, they were coming from the reserves, coming from other teams where, maybe especially our boys whom we promoted, they have never tested these defeats, to say defeat then draw, draw and draw. So, it’s something else that we need to be teaching them and I hope maybe the way we are talking to them, they will respond to it. But it is the pressure that at times we give ourselves where we end up missing so many chances in front of goal. We play an opponent who gets only two chances and they will punish us. Then, we can be in front of the goal for the whole 90 minutes doing nothing and that’s the area we have been working on.
On the players’ mental aspect ahead of the big derby
We have been trying to psych them up and it’s coming up. You can see the way they have been training today, everyone was up. You can even see some of the players who are still out [with injuries], they were also training [hard]. It means they want to play.
On the team’s inconsistency
It’s surprising to see a team which was playing very well then in a space of five months, the team has gone down to what it is today. But I am still trying to find out what it is really that has made us to be where we are today. As coaches, we do our part and players also do their part and everyone else does his part, but we can’t just slump from the top to go down. We need to find out what it is that we have done wrong for us to correct it. I hope we can still solve this in some of the cups that we are playing.
On having a five-semifinal winning streak over Wanderers
Derbies are very tricky and they can go either side. You can say we have been playing badly, but you will be surprised on the day of the game to see these boys motivated. These are games where a player is motivated on his own to say I am playing a derby. Mostly on derbies, coaches do less than what we do when we are playing these other games.
Injury update
Pasuwa has received a major boost ahead of the derby following the return of forward Ephraim Kondowe and defender Collin Mujuru, who resumed full training after recovering from an ankle injury and tight muscles, respectively.
The duo joins Maxwell Phodo and Frank Willard who also returned to full training after a lengthy period on the sidelines.
Phodo has already featured in four games since his recovery while Willard was on the bench when we lost to Karonga on Sunday, his first outing since picking up an injury in November.
But Pasuwa will face the Nomads without defender Cylde Senaji and the midfield duo of Ernest Petro and Ronald Chitiyo, who are not yet fit as they continue doing light training.
Alick Lungu and Clever Mkungula also continue their rehabilitation on the way to recovery, while Mike Mkwate is still out and his expected return dates remain unknown.
