Scrambles, shambles: Bullets seek home redemption as winless Baka vow to add misery

Early birds catch worms, don’t they? Silver Strikers and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers are in euphoria. FCB Nyasa Big Bullets are scrambling for redemption after a “shambolic” start to the season as they face Baka City who are yet to taste the treacle of the win in the elite league.

Kalisto Pasuwa saw his team producing a dreary performance in their opening two games. Rivals, Mighty Mukuru Wanderers dropped points in their first game against ambitious and spirited Kamuzu Barracks, but they resurrected and picked up two straight wins. Silver Strikers recorded two back-to-back wins in their opening fixtures before dropping points at fortress Dedza Stadium.

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In 2023, the People’s team won four of their opening five games, drawing against the Bankers only in their first game. They have scored 4 goals in three games this season which is contrary to last season as by this time, they had already plundered 6 goals including a 4-0 routing of Mafco FC.

Out of their four goals, Bullets are yet to score at home and they are one of the teams that are yet to score on their home soil this season.

“We haven’t done much in the finishing phase when we play at home,” conceded Pasuwa during the pre-match interviews on Thursday in Blantyre.

The Nomads had a premature declaration last season, chalking three straight wins in their opening games, hammering Civil Service United, Red Lions, and Mzuzu City Hammers. They scored 7 goals in three goals. This season, they have already scored 7 goals in three games, hammering CRECK Sporting Club and FOMO Football Club with an aggregate scorelines of 6-0.

However, the Nomads had the problem of run-in, after a perfect start to the season, they won just two games in their next eight games including losing at home to Chitipa United and Extreme FC away.

The Central Bankers had a great start under Pieter De Jongh last season, playing 11 games unbeaten before losing to Mighty Mukuru Wanderers. They won three games in their next 10 games.

But if one thing about the modern-day version of Bullets should have become clear by now it is that, when they go into matches knowing they have no option but to win, they actually enjoy it. League demands consistency which is lacking in other teams.

The former Dynamos Coach has won the TNM Super League five times on trot since joining Bullets as the head coach, thanks to early-season consecutive runs of consecutive wins, but this is his sixth title push where they can feel in their bones that they can’t afford to drop points on the run-in. With both Wanderers and Silver Strikers under the new mentorship, they are likely to pile pressure on Bullets this season.

Pasuwa when asked about the pressure this season, admitted that it is going to be one of the toughest seasons after teams raised their standards to challenge their pre-eminence.

“One problem we are having is that the other teams are on us and they are doing everything they can to be at par with us. They are ready for us, everyone is ready for us, you can see it in the way they are preparing.

“So, if we relax and say we won everything last season, then we might forget this championship thing. So, we need to move a step up for the other teams not to catch up with us,” he replied about what he foresees this season.

Baka City Football Club, the rookies are embracing the challenge of becoming just the fourth team to beat Bullets in 69 league matches. They have lost two of their first three games in the Elite League, getting just a single point after a draw against Mafco FC last weekend.

“It’s a must-win game for us seeing where we are on the table. It’s a tough game against FCB Nyasa Big Bullets, we don’t have another option, but to win it,” said Davie Muyombe speaking ahead of the game.

How can Pasuwa make his team tick again?

In 2023, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets were not a free-scoring team as the number of goals that they scored in the Super League dropped to 49 from 69 which they registered in 2022. Profligacy haunted them in four consecutive games in which they dropped points allowing the title race to be decided on the last day of the season.

The problem resurfaced this season as they fired blank at home against Mighty Waka Waka Tigers in a game in which they missed half of their players due to infection. However, a 3-0 win over Chitipa United could be a relief for the red armies hoping that they can kick off their season.

“Let’s keep the good win and we’ll see how the season ends,” Kalisto Pasuwa tells his players to be consistent after the game.

“We have 30 players that are supposed to participate in these games, although we had a problem with some of the guys, maybe in the first game we had half of the team out, again in the second game but that I wouldn’t take much on why we are failing to score, the available guys had to score. We need to improve for us to win games and today, we played well, and the guys scored.”

Patrick Mwaungulu’s return to the starting Xi provides Pasuwa with new depth and dimensions. Ephraim Kondowe becomes the super substitute for the team.

The Zimbabwean commonly sets up with a 4-3-3 formation in possession, using a midfield single pivot to progress centrally through the first line of pressure, with a No 10, two wide players, and a central striker.

“They are a team which I have little information about though I watched their game against Mafco FC on Saturday [last week],” admitted Pasuwa.

With this sentiment, Pasuwa will have to play a try-and-error method on where Mwaungulu, the main source of Bullets’ goals can fit. Recently, the outwide player has been used centrally, occupying the No. 10 position but with Chikumbutso Salima ruled out with injury, he is likely to be reverted to wide areas allowing either Ronald Chitiyo or Ernest Petro to play as the team linker.

Bullets’ football is parallel to Baka’s, particularly in the build-up. Defenders are asked to play short passes into midfield, who then find the space out wide from the full-backs or wingers.

Screening spaces and scoring early goals can easily take the visitors away from the game, Pasuwa will need instant impact from his boys on Saturday.

Chitiyo’s ever-running and wanting the ball could help in unlocking Baka’s low block, although the home coach has plenty of options.

Feed Kondowe, he will score

A rejected stone at Wanderers is rapidly becoming Bullets’ main man. His hard work is paying off. He is currently leasing the scoring chart for his team this season having scored two in two games.

Due to the presence of several options in attacking positions, Kalisto Pasuwa has hardly been giving Kondowe the starting berth in his team, rightly doing it, he always has little impact when playing from the first whistle.

A delicious chip over the keeper for Bullets’ second goal over the weekend in Karonga proved how mature Kondowe is becoming before setting up Patrick Mwangulu for the third goal, though he endured a difficult start to his career at the team after joining them on a free transfer from Mighty Mukuru Wanderers. He was replaced after coming on as a substitute at Civo Stadium last season.

Throughout all of that turbulence, Pasuwa kept persisting with the forward, who was often in the right position to score.

Kondowe has scored a goal in every 42.5 minutes this season making him the only player to have scored more goals in 85 minutes. His 10 goals in 36 appearances in 2023 prompted Bullets’ management to offer him a three-year contract.

Baka City likely to apply a low block

The football increasingly became painful to watch at Baka City. Oscar Kaunda dumped them before making a return to Karonga United. They are currently under the tutelage of a Caf C Coaching License holder, Davie Muyombe at Kamuzu Stadium on Saturday.

The game against the quadruple winners is a big text for Muyombe and his squad’s character. Bullets are unbeaten at Kamuzu Stadium since 2021, can they become the first newly promoted team to collect all the points from the Soccer mecca against Pasuwa’s men?

TN Stars tried to play an open game at Kamuzu Stadium and they swallowed 8 goals in their last season in the elite league before being relegated to the second-tier league. Sitting back, closing gaps, and hitting their opponents on the counterattack is likely to be the approach for the visitors.

Contrary to Bullets who are likely to use a mid-block high-pressing football, Baka City can use low-block, focusing on the defensive third of the pitch. With Bullets using a high line, Baka should rely on counter-attack – particularly using their flanks if the opposing full-backs have pushed forward.

Counter-attacks from deeper positions require quick and incisive forward actions – be those passes, dribbles, switches of play, or runs either with or without the ball. They also require good hold-up play from anyone high up the pitch; by holding on to the ball and slowing down an attack, teammates are given time to catch up with play, according to Coaches’ voice and it will depend on the quality of players that Baka have.

“The first thing for us is to have the correct mindset by not underrating our opponents, saying we are playing [against] Baka City then putting it into our heads that they are rookies.

“[With that mentality], they will end up giving us problems because these are the teams which give it all when playing against us, full of energy, they are motivated to face us.

“We need to go into the field [of play] with the right sense of positivity for us to take the points. That mindset of saying we are hosting Baka City should be removed. The first thing is to say, that we are playing against a team that plays in the league.

“If you go into the field of play with the wrong attitude, you end up dropping points. We saw them [Baka] playing against Mafco FC on Saturday and they are not a bad team, full of energy,” the Zimbabwean gaffer tells the Club’s Media.

Baka City have scored just one goal in three games and they have conceded four goals. Currently, they sit second from bottom while Bullets have the chance to storm onto the top of the team or second position depending on the outcomes of other fixtures on the day.

Silver Strikers are playing against Mafco FC and a win would see them pipping Wanderers to the summit, while CRECK Sporting Club could also go top or second should they win their game against Mzuzu City Hammers.