FCB Nyasa Big Bullets head coach Kalisto Pasuwa believes striker Maxwell Phodo is doing extremely well in his first season at the club.
The forward, who was signed as a free agent last year, is yet to find the back of the net in the TNM Super League this season having played six out of seven games under Pasuwa.
On Sunday, Phodo, who has three assists to his name, set up Lanjesi Nkhoma to score the opening goal as Bullets defeated Red Lions 4-0 at Kamuzu Stadium.
The 24-year-old also had a goal ruled out for offside and missed a number of chances before he was subbed off after the hour mark to be replaced by Anthony Mfune who netted our second goal of the day a few minutes after his introduction.
Responding to questions from the media after the final whistle, Pasuwa said his striker is doing well and it’s just a matter of time before he starts scoring goals.
“He gives a lot and I think for a first season, he’s doing extremely well. According to the formation that I use, mostly, Phodo is the main striker who leads the attack and he has given us another dimension.
“The only thing lacking is the conversion rate that many would see as a problem, but if you can look, last time we had Hassan Kajoke, who was scoring when Nkhoma was leading the attack. The same applies to Phodo, who is leading the attack, and he is able to create chances for his fellow attackers. I believe it’s just a matter of time before he starts scoring,” responded the Bullets head coach.
Giving his analysis of the thrashing of the Lions of Zomba, Pasuwa was delighted with how his charges pressed from the onset to score four goals in a match Bullets created a lot of opportunities and had three goals ruled out for offside.
“We are happy today. A game played with an offensive mind where we created so many chances,” he said.
“But again, it’s the runs that we made that gave us problems [for us to waste a lot of chances]. We need to be making diagonal runs behind spaces in order to avoid these offside calls, but again, we came back good and scored more goals in the final half, so kudos to the boys for such a brilliant performance.”
The defending champions opened a two-point lead at the top of the table over the second-placed Silver Strikers who were 4-1 winners over Bangwe All Stars at Bingu National Stadium on the same afternoon.
Bullets have 17 points from seven games, scoring 16 goals and conceding three.
Up next for The People’s Team is a trip to Karonga to play Chitipa United on Saturday.
