Josep Gombau praises fighting mentality of Odisha FC

The head coach also outlined that East Bengal gave them a tough time.

Odisha FC head coach Josep Gombau heaped praise on his side’s mentality as they capped off an incredible 4-2 comeback victory against East Bengal at the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday. A second half brace from Pedro Martin coupled with a goal each from Jerry Mawihmingthanga and Nandhakumar Sekar helped the Juggernauts roll over the two-goal lead that Stephen Constantine’s men had garnered in the first-half.

Here are the excerpts from Gombau’s post-match media interaction.

Result vs Performance

The Spaniard was obviously elated with the result but he expressed disappointment over his team’s performance in the opening 45 minutes. Josep Gombau had to ring in four changes at half time to inspire this comeback win but he still acknowledged the areas that the team went wrong in at the start of the game.

“Honestly, just now I came from the dressing room, and I told the players that I am not so happy because the performance in the first half wasn’t good. I think everybody put effort and attitude but sometimes in football you need something else, which is also to be brave and to take good decisions in attacking. We prepare (for) the game with a lot of days because we had a break,” the head coach said.

He added, “What we worked in the training session was working in the first-half. The second-half was very disappointed. But I made four changes, which is a lot at half time, just to try and address and we spoke that we can do it. We can win the game.”

“I told them that we can win the game. Because, I felt that it is just to adjust few things and if they believe, and we change the mentality, we can do it. And, it was for us, we scored four goals and we had some chances. I think at the end we deserve because the way we did it,” he further quipped.

Also Read:

• Odisha FC register outstanding comeback to stun East Bengal
• Ratings: Pedro Martin cameo uplifts Odisha FC, sinks East Bengal
• Stephen Constantine provides major update on Kyriakou’s injury

Thoughts on East Bengal

Josep Gombau admitted that Constantine’s team made it a difficult contest for Odisha FC but he refused to offer any more comments on them.

“I think it’s a game that they put to us very difficult. They were leading 2-0 at half time. As I told before or yesterday, every league game will be very difficult. We got the win. I have no opinion about them. They make to us a very difficult (game),” the tactician mentioned.

Collective mentality of the team

Gombau heaped praise on the collective mentality of the team as he asserted that his team will continue to fight back right until the final whistle is blown.

“I think this is the mentality that the team has. We have the mentality that we will fight and we will run until the last minute, even the 95th minute. This is the mentality that the team has. Until the whistle, the referee says that the game is off, I want that my team brings all this effort on the field. It’s true that we won four games and three we start losing (comeback wins), which shows the strong mentality that the team has,” the 46-year-old revealed.

On Pedro Martin’s performance

Pedro Martin made an instant impact as he came on as a substitute at half time and notched two goals within three minutes to level the scores. Josep Gombau had good words to say about the forward but insisted that either Martin or Diego Mauricio will be fielded according to the opposition Odisha comes up against this season.

“I think it is very good. He played 45 minutes. He scored two goals in 45 minutes which allowed us to come back to the game. I think he is doing really well. We are happy. We design the team we know that we have potential. Him and Diego are two different strikers, and depending the game (which we play), we can play Diego or Pedro,” he signed off.