The Boss Discussed The Blues’ Second Win On The Trot, Tactics And Another Strong Performance At The Fortress…

His assessment of the game…

We know that Kerala are a good opponent and that they were going to give their best with a lot of supporters in the stands, so it not something that we were not expecting. It is normal, and the game is 90 minutes long and given the way we play, we knew we were going to have chances to win it. We were working for that to happen. I was not frustrated or unhappy, it was a normal football game with a lot of passion and entertainment from the supporters. As I’ve always said, when you score the first goal in this kind of game, you get an advantage because the other team has to open up to level the scores; we did just that with a nice goal.

On Blasters not marking Chhetri for the goal…

I am not surprised about that because all the teams have video analysts, and they study us. If you see the Kerala Blasters team, during the set pieces Eelco sits down and the assistant coach manages the situation and you work with that. We have a lot of different players so every different situation has a plan. The thing is that you can surprise the opponent with so many different things. If you see the first half, Jeakson was marking Sunil all the time, so you have to try do something different so that they have to make a change in their defensive plan.

On whether the rest of the campaign will be easier having played big rivals in the first five rounds…

Of course not, because all the teams are playing against the champions and it is a challenge for them. Every game is bringing us into tough situations, with a lot of intensity, with a lot of fight from the other teams. We have to keep trying our best and it is going to be tough in every single game, because it is a short League and you need the points that everyone is fighting for.

On miscommunication at the back in the first half…

We have different ways of starting the game. What we normally do well is reading the moment of the game to shoot when we have to go at that moment, but unfortunately in the first half we had two mistakes. My players didn’t realise that they were under pressure by Kerala and it could have been a problem for us, but we spoke at half-time and they understood that it was not the kind of pass to try at that moment. It changed in the second half because they understood and you have to take quick decisions. We love to play every ball and sometimes that is not possible.

On having found a best eleven…

It is not about finding the best XI, but about taking advantage of the players you have in the squad. In a team, there are different things happening and it was Rahul Bheke and Manuel injured today, so you have to adjust and you have to try to give the best performance with the players that you have available. I think that this season we have some more players helping us compared to last season, and every game is going to demand something different from us and a different situation. It is the way it is, and I have a lot of versatile players, so it helps me a lot that the Indian players can play in different positions.