BB in crisis meet
Nyasa Big Bullets yesterday called for a crisis meeting with the technical committee in the wake of their poor start to the season, which has seen them failing to register a win in three games.
Besides, the People’s Team is yet to score a goal this season in what is arguably one of their worst starts to a season.
The club’s general secretary (GS) Albert Chigoga yesterday admitted that they are pressing the panic button.
He said: “Failing to win, let alone score a goal in three matches, is a crisis for a big team like Bullets. It is pathetic. We cannot pretend that all is well when the writing is on the wall.
“We are having a meeting later today [yesterday] with the technical panel to brainstorm and identify the problem and possibly suggest the best solutions.
“But as an executive committee, we own up the situation and I would appeal for calm from the fans because finger-pointing at this stage will not help us in any way. We need to take a holistic approach because the problem could be us [team management], it could be the technical panel or indeed players’ attitude.
“We should avoid piling pressure on the technical panel and players, but rather encourage them.”
Chigoga said they first had a meeting soon after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Silver Strikers in the Airtel Top 8 quarter-final first leg tie in Lilongwe which involved the players, executive, technical and main supporters committees.
“The first meeting was about encouraging the players not to lose hope, but instead pick themselves up and recharge their batteries.
“We told them that Bullets fans are passionate about their win and all they want are good results and as such, they will not clap hands when the team is struggling, but that should not make them [players] to lose focus,” he said
He said from his assessment, the team’s weakest link is lack of fire-power upfront.
“The team is playing very well, but it is the striking force which is misfiring. For instance, during the game against Silver, we dominated possession and created several chances but we couldn’t score. So, perhaps, that is an area that we need to concentrate on,” said Chigoga.
Team captain John ‘Kintu’ Lanjesi said as players, they had their own meeting recently where they expressed the need to increase their level of commitment.
“It is certainly not the kind of start we anticipated, but we will turn the corner. Nevertheless, we win and lose as a team and at this stage it would not be fair to start finger-pointing,” he said in response to a question on whether it is the striking force which is letting them down.
Coach Nsanzurwimo Ramadhan acknowledged that his team lacks the fire-power upfront.
“We can win in the second leg. We just need to work on finishing. In my opinion, we had a good game and deserved to win had we made use of the numerous chances we created. We were the better team,” he told journalists in a post-match interview.
Before going down to the Bankers, Bullets were held to a goalless draw by rookies Chitipa United in their opening TNM Super League game before losing to Moyale Barracks 1-0 in Mzuzu.
