Fatorda: NorthEast United FC will look to get back to winning ways against winless SC East Bengal in the 2021-22 Hero Indian Super League (ISL) match at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here in Goa on Friday evening.
NorthEast United FC head coach Khalid Jamil expects things to get better as they gear up to take on SC East Bengal.
The Highlanders will aim to find options to return to winning ways in the battle of the bottom two clubs in the standings after successive losses against Odisha FC and Hyderabad FC.
“They are a good side. Each team in the ISL is in good shape. We have to think about our own game, think positive and we must get those three points,” Jamil said while addressing the media ahead of the match.
“I have been unable to get the full squad. Since the first game, some players had to miss out either due to food poisoning or an injury. I am not giving any excuse but I have never gotten the six foreigners to be available for selection at the same time. For this game, (Deshorn) Brown and (Federico) Gallego are out as well but no matter the situation, we have to fight. I believe in the boys and I know they will play confidently and everything will be fine after this game,” he said.
Jamil said, “We have experienced Indian players. I don’t think there is any problem there. With regards to confidence, sometimes you are unlucky but hopefully, this time will luck favour us. The remaining players are working hard as well.”
On the other, SC East Bengal head coach Manuel Diaz revealed that his team’s late start to the pre-season preparations is hampering their physical strength which needs to be tackled Diaz admitted that his team is trying their best to improve the mood following their underwhelming results in the last matches and stated that things will be challenging in the coming days.
“We must keep sticking to our strong points and avoid making easy mistakes in the game.
NorthEast finished in the top four in the previous season, this season the team didn’t start well, and tomorrow it will be a balanced match for both teams,” he said.
“We try to improve the mood of the squad; we know it’s a difficult situation for the team and that’s the reason every match is an even bigger challenge for us,” Diaz said.
Diaz Said, “We must continue working with an excellent attitude and respect the squad. There were some matches which we could’ve won but, in the end, we couldn’t take much advantage of the opportunities in our hands.”
He said the team started too late for the pre-season preparations and that’s the reason for the current condition of the physical strength of the team.
“We created goals in different ways not only with throw-ins, and we look forward to scoring goals via set-pieces too,” SC East Bengal head coach said.
Diaz said, “We have scored nine goals out of which the foreign players have scored eight goals.
I am not happy with them, for me this is a regular performance.”
He said the long throw-ins have a great possibility of scoring goals because our players have been delivering quality performances, but a professional team must do many more things. The entire team must be compact with pressing, electrifying attacking, etc.
