Mario unmoved 

F

ames coach Mario Marinica has reitarated that he will stick to his fast and very-fast football style despite criticism from some quarters.

In an interview yesterday, the Flames gaffer said the style is ideal for the available players.

He was reacting to critics who once again faulted his style of play in Thursday’s 1-0 loss to Guinea’s Syli Nationale in their second 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier in which they hardly enjoyed possession and could not pass the ball around.

Malawi conceded in the second minute of added time in Conakry, Guinea just when a point appeared to be within touching distance.

Said Marinica: “First, this is not ‘my style’, it is a way to achieve results in a short-term based on the available players.

“We need to learn to compete first and not to fear anyone. We need to create chances against any team, which we did.

“Then we’ll look to play more with the ball once we have the confidence of not fearing teams.

“Regardless of our Afcon results, our squad value is still worth only $4.5 million.

We still do not have players playing for Liverpool or other big clubs.”

And in a post-match comment soon after the match, the Romanian said Malawi still have a “fantastic chance of sailing through”.

“Some people kind of downplayed our win over Ethiopia, but Ethiopia beat continental giants Egypt 2-0. They proved that they are no pushovers and they have to look at it in that light,” he said.

Marinica blamed the loss on loss of concentration and pressure.

He said: “There was a loss of concentration and they started panicking instead of pushing up. They dropped deep even though we urged them to push up,

“But I will not blame the players [because] at the end of the day, it’s teamwork. We just need to go back to the drawing board.”

Meanwhile, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has thrown its weight behind the coach on the tactics.

FAM president Walter Nyamilandu said: “Well, it’s the same tactics that have brought us this far. We excelled at Afcon and managed to overcome Ethiopia recently because of  strong tactical discipline. It’s a question of being efficient and effective at the same time.

“We played sexy football in the past that didn’t produce results and critics scoffed at the Barcelona way as being too playful.

“I guess the coach needs to find the right balance so that we are more offensive and the players also have to adapt to the new philosophy quickly.”

“Playing fast and purposeful football doesn’t mean you should lose the ball easily. This is not what he is advocating, but rather avoiding unnecessary back passes that have cost us dearly in the past.”

He said at the end of the day, the Flames have to play to their strength by adopting a style of play that is unique so that they have a strong competitive position.

“All is not lost. Let’s give the coach a chance to perfect his art as Rome was not built in a day,”  he said.

However, football analyst Kelvin Moyo said the issue is complex.

He said: “Statistics show that since Mario took over, the team has had less than 25 percent possession in most games.

“The fact is that we reached the last 16 at Afcon finals playing in a similar manner and we have continued with the style in the current campaign which has led to a win and a loss.

“The technical panel’s view might be if it’s not broken, why fix it? But from simple football basics, it is difficult to create chances and score if you do not have a lot of possession because winning favours those with more possession.

“My take going forward is that the coach needs to create a style which should ensure more possession which can enable players to create scoring opportunities and allow them to express themselves.

“Having less ball possession forces a team to play more defensive leading to fatigue.”

Another analyst Charles Nyirenda said: “Let’s not beat about the bush. The Flames were beginning to give hope, but owing to Maranica’s peculiar approach, which is being experimented for the first time with a national team here, we have completely derailed and we are obviously heading in the wrong direction.

“‘Kick-and-run-like-hell’ type of football is outdated, the players are uncomfortable with it, the play is boring and it can’t get us the desired results.

“FAM must review the approach and tell Marinica to stop the laboratory experiments he is undertaking.”