The Boss Discusses Tactics, Set-Pieces And Another Narrow Win At The Fortress…

On the work that goes behind formulating set-pieces…

We study the other teams a lot, and in this case, it was Alberto’s (Roca) team, so I knew a few things about that. We were studying as to what we need to do and it worked. Normally, it is a risky action (teeing up Nishu on the edge of the box from a corner), as it much easier to put the ball to Erik because he can win the header. But I have great players that trust in what we are doing and they just tried the action one more time and it worked. Dimas put the right ball in the right place and Nishu scored a fantastic goal. We had tried that in training but not with much success. But Nishu turned up with the right shot at the right moment.

On the combinations up front and the inability to finish chances in the second half…

We have been trying different combinations and all of them are creating chances which is the most important thing. If you see the kind of chances we created, they would have been put in on another day. These things happen in football. We had Manu for some time and then he goes on loan and scores two goals – and that’s how it works with forwards. Sometimes you change a dynamic and it helps you score, so I am happy with the work of the guys. We have been creating so many chances to score the second goal and you know in these kinds of games, if you score the second goal it is a different story.

On the penalty conceded by Suresh…

We have to say that we are playing against a team with very good coaches. One is in Spain but he is very good, and the other one is here and he is also a very good coach. He saw that he (Suresh) was man-marking and he decided to put Marcelinho on the left. We were aware and planning for that situation where we would put Khabra on him, but there was a misunderstanding between Khabra and Suresh and they (Hyderabad) took advantage of that very particular moment. So, kudos to the other team and they tried to change something and it worked for them. But everybody who saw it knows it was not a penalty. You (referees) cannot make a mistake game after game. Even the yellow card was shown to the wrong player. It drives us crazy.

On Suresh’s performance…

Suresh has been playing very well in the last two games which he has started. He is a talented player and he takes good decisions and he is helping us a lot.

On Hyderabad’s change of style and the narrow win…

Well, Hyderabad FC have changed some things in their way of play, they have the ball more now and they have a lot of players who have quality. They have foreigners who have a lot of quality. You know if you arrive at 1-0 to the end of the game you are going to have a lot of problems because even a little bit of quality can make it 1-1. That is why I was pushing my players to get the second goal but it was not happening. But in the end, we have a clean sheet because Gurpreet saved a penalty and he saved the last action (from Liston). So, there were not many opportunities for the other team, but only one opportunity can lose you two points and these things happen in football. My guys were doing a good job, helping in defence and pushing up together in counter-attacks, but as long as you don’t get the second goal, you know you are going to suffer in the final minutes.