Coaches consistently blame players after Super League defeats

It’s a recurring theme in Malawian football: after a loss, the finger of blame often points squarely at the players. This trend was evident once again on Wednesday, as coaches from four losing teams in the TNM Super League offered their post-match analyses, consistently highlighting player shortcomings as the primary reason for their respective defeats.

“There is no team, this team needs overhaul” – Christopher Nyambose, Songwe Border FC

Songwe Border Football Club continued their desperate search for a win, suffering a crushing 4-0 defeat to Chitipa United at Karonga Stadium, marking their ninth loss of the season. The rookies are clearly struggling to adapt to the intensity of the elite league, remaining rooted to the bottom of the table with little hope.

Head Coach Christopher Nyambose, brought in to bolster the technical panel, has frequently attributed the team’s woes to a lack of Super League experience among his players. On Wednesday, he was even more direct in his assessment.

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“There is no team, this team needs an overhaul. Songwe Border United people should agree with me. We need to add new players in the transfer window. We have to inject some two or three guys,” Nyambose declared.

He used an analogy to emphasize his point: “Had it been that it is a car, we would have said that we need injectors, some spare parts here and there because we are moving with a wounded team.”

Nyambose stressed the need for significant reinforcements across multiple positions. “So many positions need to be beefed up, I cannot even disclose now but in general, the team needs overhaul, we need to start again.”

Despite the bleak outlook, Nyambose expressed a surprising confidence in survival, albeit with caveats. “Definitely, we will survive in the league. I have some good players, it’s not easy and every player who is not good.

“Seven players are better and we can start with them but when two or three of them get knocks, that means I’m in problems, if they are not well on that particular day, then I have problems. We need to have backups so that when we make changes, there must be a positive change.”

He further criticized his players’ decision-making: “It’s just a matter of thinking capability, that’s where maturity comes, they don’t know what to do with the ball on their own, they always depend on the technical panel to tell them, they don’t know.

“You can look at Chitipa players, they are similar to ours, in fact our players have good heights, physically fit, but they don’t know what to do with the ball when attacking and defending.”

“Players make mistakes and we got punished” – Prichard Mwansa, Moyale Barracks

Another Northern Region team, Moyale Barracks, were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by FCB Nyasa Big Bullets in Blantyre. Goals from Chikumbutso Salima, Sean McBrams, and Chawanangwa Gumbo handed Moyale their second defeat of the season and prevented them from climbing to fifth on the log.

Moyale Barracks coach Prichard Mwansa squarely blamed his players for the errors that led to the goals. “When you make a lot of mistakes, you get punished like we have been punished today. We need to improve our game in many areas, for sure, you could see especially in the first half, played good football, created some chances but it’s painful,” he admitted.

He highlighted defensive lapses: “We conceded first two goals on counterattack, that’s why I’m saying that we need to improve some areas, like in defending, there was bad movement, poor movement, poor communication and even poor communication between my goalkeeper and my defenders, so, we need to improve.”

Despite the heavy loss, Mwansa remained defiant: “They can do it, losing 3-0 today, it doesn’t mean that it’s over, we will still fight, still long way to go.”

“Players played without purpose” – Eliya Kananji, Creck Sporting Club

Eliya Kananji experienced another defeat as coach of Creck Sporting Club. After losing his first game in charge in Blantyre, he was hoping for a bounce-back win against struggling Civil Service United. However, “the Servants” produced a blistering second-half performance, with two goals from substitute Dastin Banda, to secure the victory.

Kananji attributed the loss to a “lack of seriousness” from his players. “Another defeat in a game that we played very well. We started the game very well in the first half but chibwana chathu chatipweteketsa (our lack of seriousness hurt us),” he stated.

He expressed frustration with the second-half collapse: “We were down in the second half, we gave away two goals, there was no goal which we should have to concede. We didn’t attack with intention, opanda cholinga (without purpose).

“Every player was down. We gave them three points, very painful. Our last touch was not convincing, amangopita kutsogolo just to present but panalibe chanzeru (they just went forward just to present but there was no ambition). It’s not looking good on the log table, I don’t know what happened, I don’t know what I can say,” he concluded, clearly at a loss for words.

“Players lacked confidence” – Oscar Kaunda, Karonga United

After an impressive performance in the Airtel Top 8 Cup against FCB Nyasa Big Bullets, Karonga United faced a tough loss against Silver Strikers at Silver Stadium. Chinsisi Maonga opened the scoring for Silver before Patrick Phiri equalized for Karonga from the penalty spot. Chimwemwe Idana then restored Silver’s lead, and Festus Duwe sealed a dominant 3-1 win for “the Bankers.”

Speaking after the game, Karonga United coach Oscar Kaunda pointed to a lack of confidence among his players as the reason for the defeat.

“It’s just confidence. Today the players didn’t pass well like they do. It was a good game, Silver Strikers played well today,” Kaunda observed.

He expressed hope for improvement from his young squad: “The players didn’t come to the party today, they are still young and I hope they will be back at their best in our next game. They didn’t play well today, they had a problem with passes, it was an easy thing, there was no confidence but we will bring it back so that they can catch up in our next game,” he assured.