NAPSA Stars head coach Mohamed Fathi has appealed to the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) to give his team a one week break as his players are tired.
Fathi who was speaking to the ZamFoot Crew after his team’s 2-1 loss to Kabwe Warriors in midweek also stressed the fact that he has ten players on the injury list, all of whom are starters.
“The players are not used to this fixture, They are tired. We have seen some teams ask for rest like after the Gabon game, Eagles, Nkana, and even Forest Rangers had a week’s rest, so all these issues. We tried to help the system and not disturb the Competition but it hit us back, My appeal to my people at the club and football house, we need one week rest, my players are tired, We will manage to sort out our problems in that one week, I have ten injured players all starters, so the situation is not helpful,” he said.
“We talk to them and psych them. We always encourage each other. We have good management at NAPSA when we have a problem they don’t panic and rush into making decisions, they talk to us to find a solution. They are very professional. The question is that will our mother body (FAZ) listen to our appeal to give us one week rest because these players are tired and at the same time they are representing Zambia in the CAF Confederation Cup pre-group stage, I hope they listen to us because these players are really tired,” added.
The Pensioners have not been impressive in the league despite doing well in the CAF Confederation Cup and Fathi has attributed that to how poor his defense this season in comparison to last season when they had arguably the best defense in the league.
Fathi is confident his side can easily get out of the relegation zone with just two or three wins and finish in a good position at the end of the season.
“We had a serious problem in defense, Luka Ng’uni is not himself this season, that’s why we have been using Amos Simwanza but he got injured. Luka Banda is with the national team, David tries his best but Ng’uni is still not himself and we don’t have depth in that position and this is why we conceding goals,” he said.
“Of course this is not our performance since I came here, Last season our defense was the best in the league but anyway we will sit with the management and find a solution to this problem.”
“We just need two or three wins and we will be out. Nkana, Forest last season were in relegation but at the end of the season one won it and the other finished in the top four. We can also do the same and we capable of coming out of this situation and perform well in the league and Continental football, We just need to put our heads together and find the solutions. If we keep blaming each other it won’t help,” he added.
Napsa Stars are currently 16th on the log with 13 points from 13 games played so far with only two wins recorded and losing seven games which is the joint highest number of losses so far this season.
