Champions Nyasa Big Bullets coach Callisto Pasuwa has cautioned players to take football seriously as a career.
The Zimbabwean coach was speaking in an end-of-season press briefing this week where he disclosed that he noticed that most players were casual when he took over the team last year.
“Players should take football as their life. When I came here, I observed that they were not taking it seriously. There was a casual attitude. I have seen many players, who are very good, but they need to take football as seriously as their job,” he said.
Pasuwa also commended the players for surpassing his expectation to defend the TNM Super League title with an inexperienced team.
Bullets won the 15th league title in dramatic fashion after a rat-race with their rivals Be Forward Wanderers. They were separated by a point.
“I am very surprised how these youngsters learnt so fast. It’s a miracle that we managed to do it as most of the players were promoted from the reserve side. We are still on the rebuilding exercise even for next season,” he said.
Commenting on his plans for the forthcoming season, Pasuwa said there will not be significant changes to the team.
“We brought in 14 youthful players. If there will be any changes then it must be three, but not more than four.
Assistant coach Heston Munthali also applauded the youngsters for inspiring the team
“We didn’t expect players such as Hassan Kajoke, Nixon Nyasulu, Peter Banda who were playing in the Under-20 FMB not long ago to stand and become the team’s backbone,” he said.
On his part Bullets chief administration officer Albert Chigoga, backed the Zimbabwean coach for changing the mentality of the players.
“Bullets is a big club with a lot of interest. We have sanity in the team; our supporters are beginning to understand that we have different roles to play. Players are disciplined they don’t take it to social media to post controversial issues. The coach has helped a lot,” he said.
Chigoga also described their fairy-tale run to retain the TNM title as unexpected.
“We are very shocked that with our youthful squad were playing against experienced teams with depth, but coach Pasuwa has worked tremendously well to retain the championship,” he said.
