By Martin Chanda Lesa
This was a reality check away from the constant hype and needful reflection of the state of our team. Our boys were Baptized and the mistakes are the same we are to work on just a few days before AFCON.
The formation by coach Sichone seemed to have been okay but the execution by some players failed.The Goal Keeping department continues to be unstable with silly mistakes being made even after we feel we have now settled on Lawrence Mulenga as our most experienced Keeper. That’s why we still needed another experienced Goal Keeper like Charles Kalumba. But we are still hopeful Lawrence can get over that!
The Defence accounted for themselves well generally especially the young lads or wing backs Hamansenya and Matthews. But one mistake continues.
We are failing to defend set pieces especially corners and a collective problem of the Goal Keeper and defenders; we conceded a goal from a Corner kick against South Africa with defenders ball watching, we conceded another goal the first one scored by Angola again from a simple Corner kick. Then came yesterday, the second goal was a Corner kick which again our Goal Keeper and Defenders did nothing about.
The Midfield seemed fair with the introduction of Owen Tembo but Simukonda and Pascal, not very imposing, will still miss the experienced midfielders we left out.
The striking force is most problematic now and not deadly. During the World Cup qualifiers we lost to Tanzania at Home, Morocco at Home and Niger at Home in games we dominated some parts and created chances and our strikers failed to convert.
At least we would have drawn or won some of those games. Patson Daka, Fashion and Klings failed most of those chances, with Daka failing the most! Yesterday, the same thing happened. It’s high time we changed the formation upfront. Probably our opponents know us better.
Let Patson be tried in the second half as an instant impact player or super sub, we can try starting with Kennedy Musonda or Jack Lahne if not both and Musonda playing more of a Midfield link up. Let Fashion switch flanks maybe the right wing and not the usual predictable style on the left wing, he is mostly being frustrated. Alternatively Fashion can also be used as a Central Striker as he is very deadly in the box provided we have good wingers making those deadly crosses.
This is where we would miss (Kelvin Kampamba) for more options and change of formations. But Lubambo Musonda can also come in handy if pushed upfront since we have Hamansenya who can take up the left back position. All the best Chipolopolo, hope we make the necessary changes before the first game!
1.Daka seems to think he should be play the role of provide when he can go for goal himself.
2. Sakala should know he has support from the back and can back heel or else move into the center and attack the goal himself. The coach should play with the different combinations
3. Our attack is lopsided. When Sakala moves on the flank or Dominic Chanda headers there must be players hungry enough to attack the loose balls that go to waste.
4.it is obvious Daka will not score goals by himself so he needs to have a strike partner.
5. The midfield is still very slow in closing down players and our pressure on the ball is still lacking.
So stupid article and comments.
There are no good players left back in Zambia.
Goalkeeper who can match Mweene or selleble to a foreign club is Willard Mwanza.