Mabedi decries calls to quit

Flames coach Patrick Mabedi has downplayed football supporters’ calls for his firing following Malawi’s 2-3 loss to Burundi on Thursday in TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group L qualifier at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.

The tactician and the Flames left yesterday for Bamako, Mali to face Burkina Faso on Tuesday in the second qualifier still haunted by the supporters’ chants baying for his blood after the loss.

But the former Kaizer Chiefs gaffer said he is not under pressure to step down.

He said: “If you can’t take the heat in the kitchen, you need to get out. This is the pressure I have been taking when I was playing. There is no pressure here. This is nothing. Teams lose. Teams get hammered. I don’t see any pressure.”

The coach endured such chants even during the match as the Flames gave away silly goals, two from defensive blunders and one an own-goal.

During the match when it was visible that the Flames were losing the plot, the supporters called for Mabedi to make some changes, but he still stood his ground, saying he cannot be swayed by supporters.

He said: “Even the fans wanted someone to play, but I wanted something different tactically. You don’t need to listen. Sometimes you need to be stubborn for the good of the team and not just listen to what someone is saying, because we train with the players and we understand them.”

However, the coach admitted that the Flames did not come to the party and attributed this to poor coordination since he did not have enough time to train with a full squad.

On calls for the coach to bring in more foreign-based players such as Gabadinho Mhango that are capable of coping with FAM’s new arrangement of camping for seven days, Mabedi said this will make no difference as long as there is not enough time to prepare.

He said: “Even if you bring Ronaldo or Ronadinho to train for one day, it is not going to help because one day is not enough to combine with others. It’s a matter of having enough time to practice with others.

“I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that failing to score is a disease in this country. How many top strikers do we have? I brought Gabadinho whom you guys are mentioning, during the Four Nations Tourney. What happened? The same thing.”

On the Flames next assignment against Burkina Faso, again he cast doubt on the team’s capabilities given the short period to rectify the challenges the team faced against Burundi.

He said: “As I mentioned earlier, if you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail. You could see how we struggled on everything, but we tried.

“As tacticians, we will try to motivate them to recover from the loss and come back into the game. We just need to sit down and understand that it’s water under the bridge. We lost, we lost. There is nothing that will change.

“We need to look forward to the next game and redeem ourselves. It’s not going to be easy at all because when you come from a defeat, everything goes against you. But we need to fight. We don’t have time to mourn or complain. We need to redeem ourselves, get up and move on.”

But Mabedi was at pains to explain why he opted for right back Gomezgani Chirwa in left back position, a decision which cost the Flames dearly.

The Bullets defender struggled throughout the game and gifted the visitors a second goal when he failed to tame pacey winger Kanakimene Bienvenue, who provided the assist for Jean Claude Girumugisha.

He also made a blunder that led to the third goal when his clearance bounced off Burundi’s Abedi Bigirimana into an open net after Chikooka had left the goal to collect the ball.

But Mabedi said with other left backs such as Tatenda M’balaka and Precious Sambani struggling with fitness, he opted for Chirwa because he can play in both roles.

However, football analysts have faulted Mabedi for experimenting in a crucial match.

Football analyst Raymond Siyaya said Mabedi’s player selection and tactics leave a lot to be desired.

He said: “I will point all my fingers to blame the coach. He got it all wrong from the selection of players to fielding and tactics.  Why on earth did he select three right backs and only one left back?

“Worse still, Gomezgani Chirwa, a right-back was pushed to the left with Precious Sambani a more natural left back on the bench. As a result, that left-flank was dead with no proper crosses inside the enemy’s box.

“Mabedi falls way short on tactical acumen. He continues to fail to create a playing system that links his player formation in a game to a particular playing style. Sometimes players seem not to know the strategy.

“Conceding three goals against Burundi points to a deeper problem within the basic structure of the team as the team seems not capable of recovering the ball quickly and being close-knit together to close down the opponent.”

Another analyst Charles Nyirenda also agreed with Siyaya that Mabedi’s poor squad selection and tactics cost Malawi the game.

He said: “The Flames played well in spurts although largely disorganised. This resulted in two unforced errors that gifted the Burundians two easy goals-an own goal by Chimwemwe Idana and a poor clearance by Chirwa that cannoned off an opposition striker before agonizingly roaring past the goal line.

“A couple other flaws were keeping an off the pace Chifundo Mphasi on the field of play for 90 minutes when as a number nine, he fluffed up opportunity after opportunity. He should have been rested at half time.

“Mispositioning Chirwa at left back was another huge mistake. He was never comfortable operating from his weaker leg such that the gift he gave to Burundi with his poor clearance arose from this handicap.

“And finally but not least, the coach didn’t sound confident in the run up to this encounter. He uttered remarks which gave the impression that his boys weren’t ready because they had been together for a short period and so on and so forth. That meant that the players felt already underrated from the first whistle.”