RVG pleads with Flames on style of play

Former Malawi national football team coach Ronny Van Geneugden (RVG) has advised the Flames technical panel to maintain the style of play he introduced which has been abandoned by current coach Mario Marinica.

Marinica has introduced ‘fast and very fast football’ philosophy which prefers long passes into the final third in contrast to RVG’s free-flowing football.

Commenting on the change in the philosophy in an interview from his homeland, the Belgian said he would have loved if Football Association of Malawi (FAM) maintained the philosophy he introduced between 2017 and 2019.

He said: “We built a strong squad with very young players. After two years of creating a style of play they qualified for Africa Cup of Nations.

“You have to build on this success and development programme from the junior till the senior Flames. All teams have to play the same style.”

RVG joins analysts who have faulted Marinica’s philosophy for lacking creativity.

In the match against Guinea the Flames were outplayed in all departments with a meagre 27 percentage ball possession and 181 passes against Guinea’s 73 percent goal possession and 495 passes.

They lacked accuracy in their passes as they had 53 percent while Guinea had 82 percent accuracy.

The Flames also had no shot on target in their five attempts while Guinea had two out of their 13 shots on target.

Football analyst George Chiusiwa said Marinica’s style cannot be technically and tactically described properly.