Nyasa Big Bullets head coach Kalisto Pasuwa faced the press on Thursday ahead of Sunday’s TNM Super League fixture away to TN Stars in Kasungu.
Ahead of Bullets’ third away game in a row, Pasuwa talked about how his charges have prepared ahead of the match, a threat that TN Stars will pose to his side, title defence and his ongoing rebuilding exercise.
Below is the full transcript of what he said:
A third away game in a row, how ready are the boys ahead of this encounter?
“Every player is ready for this match apart from Rabson Chiyenda who will not be part of the trip to Kasungu because he is on suspension, but all the players are ready for the game against TN Stars and we hope that we will get the best out of the players that will be picked for this match.”
Playing another side which is currently not doing well in the Super League, how dangerous is it to play these teams at this stage of the competition?
“I am one person who wouldn’t say we are meeting a team that is not doing well and I have been telling the players not to underrate any opposition because teams in the Super League are giving us tough times by doing whatever it takes to collect points from us and everyone wants to be seen playing well against us, so the same way we train when we’re facing big teams is exactly the same way that we have been preparing for TN Stars.”
Just a point behind log leaders Blue Eagles with 26 points from 10 games, is it still too early to start talking about the title defence?
“I am one person who has been advising players not to focus on what other teams are doing. We are Bullets and we have to concentrate on our games because it is still too early to talk about defending our title even if we can climb on top because we have just played ten games. We are too far to be talking about the title defence. We need to train our team, we need to do more on how we fair when we are playing these games. We have been preaching saying we’re on a rebuilding exercise on our side, so we need to correct each and everything we do in the camp.”
You are rebuilding Bullets and at the same time competing, at what stage do you think you are in rebuilding the team?
“I think now we are 45 percent in percentage. There is a lot to learn. You can see at times when we’re playing organised teams, that’s where you can see most of the mistakes being done. Of course we will wait for international matches, as you know we are playing [CAF] Champions League, and if we are not careful we will be exposed, so we need that play where we can also suit these international matches.”
