COACH Perry Mutapa has previewed his team’s week-13 match against Chambishi during a pre-match press conference held via zoom with the media this morning.
Here’s the coach’s thoughts ahead of this match scheduled for Heroes Stadium tomorrow. .
The team has not been recording positive results of late, what are your expectations from this match against Chambishi?
Yes, we have not had positive results in the recent matches, but for me, the most important thing I will keep saying this, if the guys are giving a good performance, it’s just a matter of time. It’s like in our first matches, we gave a good performance in the first games but we only picked up after the third game, so we are expecting to do that even in tomorrow’s game.
Keegan Zulu, how is the morale in camp and what are your expectations tomorrow?
The morale in camp is okay despite the recent results. We are definitely ready for tomorrow’s game.
How easy is to plan for the games with the rainy season?
It’s not easy. We don’t have the best facilities in Zambia, maybe only a few. So it’s not easy, but I believe in as much as you can have plan A or B or C, most of the time you have to plan with your biggest strength, but every team will play in this situation so we just have to be ready for anything.
Keegan Zulu, how are you managing as players?
We play a passing game, it’s not easy to play under these conditions but we just have to adjust and play our games.
Tomorrow’s game is similar to the Buildcon game. Everyone expected you to beat Buildcon but you drew, Chambishi is in a similar situation being in relegation, how tricky are these fixtures playing against teams that are down there, how dangerous are they when underrated?
Yes, very tricky like you have said it. Similar to Buildcon, everyone was expecting us to beat Buildcon. But they’re in this league because they earned it. So people will always think that, but the most important thing is we should not underrate anyone, and this one might be different because we are playing at home and hopefully if rains won’t come, we are very optimistic, we might carry the day.
Just talk about how competitive the league has been. The way teams are changing positions on the log every week, not just for NAPSA Stars, but generally overall how competitive has the league been?
I think its lack of consistency on the part of the teams. But also, very competitive like you have put it. You do not know which team can beat who. But it’s it also gives us motivation because we are not on a better position now, but just two weeks ago we were fourth, so it gives us motivation that if we just pick a win, we will find ourselves in a better position
Chambishi are a bit of a surprise package, you don’t know which side will turn. Today they play well, tomorrow they play badly. How have you prepared for such a team? They are coming from a 4-2 loss to Power after a run of two back-to-back wins,
We are going to treat every game as a cup final. It’s very difficult to underrate Chambishi, they’ve beaten teams like Nkana and Green Eagles at home. So obviously they’re not a push over. They might make mistakes when they play their matches but it’s not a push over team. In terms of scoring, they’re doing well and they’ve scored a good number of goals in some matches. So it’s not a push over team and it’s going to be a tight match but we are going to treat each opponent like a cup final.
Coach how happy are you towards achieving your goals set for yourself this season?
It’s been a season of mixed feelings so far, we had a good run at some point but our recent results have not been good. But I feel we have dominated and created chances in the last two matches we have played despite losing. The players are playing how we want them to play and creating chances, hopefully tomorrow we don’t concede and win our game.
Keegan, mentally how is it for you guys as a team going through ups and down, especially with so much demand of results from your fans especially on social media?
As a team, we have discussed on that and how to take the coming games. Mentally we are strong and pushing for the coming games.
You have continued not to score a lot of goals, are you not worried?
Yes it’s a big concern, but to be worried means you won’t do your job, and for the technical team and as a team, that why we go for training, we are going to make sure this problem is sorted out, the most important thing is to win games, and obviously score. Football is a project and this is work in progress. So yes, it’s a concern because the chances created and goals scored are not tallying, but obviously from tomorrow and the coming games, we should be able to score goals.
Keegan, you have only lost once at home if I am not mistaken, how important is it to collect maximum points at home?
We are back at Heroes and we have a good record there so we are just hoping to carry maximum points tomorrow because we are back at our home ground.
Team update, who is in and who is out?
Luka Banda is out because he is with the National team.
Long term injuries, Simon Nkhata is still recovering but training.
Danny Silavwe and Rodwell Mukwanya the goalkeeper are also out owing to injuries.