Jamshedpur, Apr 9 (UNI) FC Goa head coach Manolo Marquez isn’t reading too much into Jamshedpur FC’s position in the Indian Super League (ISL) points table as they prepare to
face them at the JRD Tata Sports Complex here on Tuesday evening..
Jamshedpur FC are out of the reckoning for a place in the playoffs and will conclude their season with a match against the Gaurs who still retain slim hopes of winning the League Shield which could extinguished if Mumbai City FC extend their unbeaten run at home when Odisha FC visit on Monday.
The Spaniard though wants his team to pick up full points from their remaining two matches as it could help them finish second and directly qualify for the semi-finals. However, he is not anticipating an easy match against the Red Miners who have nothing but pride to play for.
“All games in ISL are difficult. In the last game, we played against the team that is bottom of the table and it was 0-0 at half time and we had problems. The second half was better,” he said during the pre-match press conference.
“Jamshedpur FC reacted very well after the arrival of Khalid Jamil. Their defence is all Indian but they have four foreigners in the rest of the field. It will be a very difficult game and if we want to win, we need to play a good game,” he added.
The Spaniard believed a spell of six matches without a victory has severely dented his team’s chances of winning the Shield after a superb start to the season.
“It was very difficult to improve the results that we got in the first leg of the competition in the second as it was very good for us,” he said.
“But in the second half we didn’t win six games and in a competition like ISL, you can drop down the table if you have such a spell very quickly,” he added.
Marquez has grown a reputation of improving young players and getting the best out of them but he warned against hyping up the young players too much too soon.
“When young players play 2-3 good games and everyone is speaking about them and I think that is negative,” he said.
The players then need to have a good mentality and be humble. They need to train well, eat well and sleep well. I feel we are improving in these aspects but there is still a lot of scope for improvement,” he added.
FC Goa midfielder Brandon Fernandes accompanied coach Marquez in the pre-match press conference and spoke highly of his gaffer.
“Every coach has different ways of training and opinions. As a player it's always good to play under different coaches, you get to learn a lot,” he said.
“Manolo is a proven coach in ISL. His work at Hyderabad FC speaks for itself. He has improved each and every player. He is hard on us sometimes but he is a very good coach for us,” he signed off.
UNI BM