Juan Ferrando: Important to change plans since not all players are ready

The ATK Mohun Bagan head coach also praised the forwards of his side.

ATK Mohun Bagan are still reeling from an embarrassing loss to NorthEast United, as they host an unpredictable FC Goa in their next Indian Super League (ISL 2022-23) game. Juan Ferrando's side need to get back to winning ways to restart their surge towards at least having a shot at challenging for the league title.

Reflection on NorthEast United loss

Speaking on the loss to the Highlanders and ATKMB’s plans going forward, Juan Ferrando said: “In some moments, the performance of the team was very good and I hope to change some mistakes in small detail to ensure the team performs much better. I know it’s difficult for us to now challenge for the first or second position. I know that this is a big club that wants to do the best until the last moment and until the last match.

“We need to keep working and learn about some details. If one day I don’t trust in my team it’d be better to pack my bags and go home. This team has potential and ambition, which is important. But the injuries have made things difficult to prepare for games. Sometimes in training, we don’t have 20 players to prepare for games – we have 18, 16 and sometimes 12. This is part of football and we can’t change anything,” he added.

How can ATKMB fix their goal-scoring issues?

The Spaniard gave a long explanation of how things run at his side when questioned about their goal-scoring issues, saying: “If you check the stats against Kuala Lumpur in the AFC Cup and in the Durand Cup, we averaged six shots on target. In the last few games, we had seven shots on target and against NorthEast we had three. Why? Because this is a part of football. The tactics and technical part of football is important, but one part is emotional.

He continued, "The emotion of the players, their confidence in themselves is good sometimes, which is why they score when they touch the ball. Sometimes the players with a lot of capacity, when they don’t have confidence they don’t have success. For me, firstly it’s important for my players to create chances to trouble the opponent. Then if the shots are off target, if Liston (Colaco) or the midfielders struggle, we have 3-4 days to work on this salutation.

“But not to work on technical aspects but in the confidence. But this problem in confidence is the same with players for ATK Mohun Bagan, Chelsea or Real Madrid. Sometimes, big clubs sign a lot of very good players and then everyone is talking about ‘oh he hasn’t scored in three or five matches’. That’s because they aren’t confident. This is a part of football, the emotions is important. For me, it’s most important that the team creates chances. But the second point is to help the players take these chances and convert them into goals. But it’s sometimes necessary to accept these things, because they are not in our hands. It’s in our hands to control the space, send good crosses and ensure we can keep the other team out,” he added.

Ferrando praises ATKMB forwards

Juan Ferrando also praised the quality of his young Indian forwards and piped them to do a lot of good going forward. He said: “For me, in case of Manvir (Singh), Liston (Colaco), Kiyan (Nassiri) and Fardin (Ali Molla), they are the future of India and for me it’s to help them and support them 100% at all times. Because when they’ll be 25-27 years, that’s the best moment for the career of a player. That’s when they’ll be at the highest performance levels and be at most confidence. Of course, they are gutted not to get three points but my job is to help them and continue working on mistakes.”

Coping with fixture schedule amid injury issues

When asked about how his side is coping up with the rapid fixture congestion amid all their injury problems, the Spaniard said: “In case of injuries, it’s most important to change details. This is our target now. Because this is not the same when you have 25 players and you can choose your line-ups easily. At this moment, it’s very difficult. It’s important to change some plans because not all payers are ready. I know that it’s not possible for us to do nothing in training sessions and this injury situation is a big problem.”

Ferrando explains what his side are looking for in January signings

Finally, Juan Ferrando spoke about what ATKMB are looking for in their January transfer signings after signing Slavko Damjanovic. He said: “The management is working hard on finding other foreign and local players. But most important is two details, players who want to joint the club with ambition and those who want to come with us to support the team and try to do the best. It’s not so easy to find these players.

“Sometimes, a player wants to join for sure, but here we try to work in one mentality and want players who want to join us to really trust the team and come with ambition. They shouldn’t come here to wait, but show a lot of ambition in every training session and help us improve every day,” he finished with.