Manolo Marquez: We managed the game well in parts of the second half

The Hyderabad FC tactician also heaped praise upon goalie Gurmeet Singh.

Hyderabad FC defeated East Bengal by 2-0 in their latest Indian Super League (ISL) 2022-23 fixture at the G.M.C Balayogi Athletic Stadium on Friday. Mohammad Yasir and Javier Siverio were the scorers for Manolo Marquez’s side who become the league leaders for the time being.

With this win, Hyderabad FC complete 10 matches for the ongoing season, collecting 22 points. Their performance was particularly impressive in the second half after the arrival of Siverio and Borja Herrera, as the duo combined for the second goal.

Manolo Marquez told the media during the post-match media interaction that his team managed the game well in the second half. He talked about Gurmeet Singh and more during the press conference. Here are the excerpts:

Good game management

Talking about his assessment of the match, Manolo Marquez said, “After 90 or 98 minutes, we deserved to win the game. It is true we scored the first goal in a moment when nothing was happening. We did not find the correct way to arrive to the East Bengal box. They defended with a lot of order, very dangerous in counter-attacks with long balls for Cleiton and wingers, Semboi, VP Suhair and Naorem Mahesh. In the second half, I think that we managed the game well in some moments.

“But I think that we missed clear chances. The score is fair. In the first half, it was very equal and maybe a draw was fair,” he further added.

Importance of the goalkeeper

Hyderabad FC secured a clean sheet against EBFC and Gurmeet Singh deserves huge credit for it. Presenting his thoughts on the custodian’s performance, the tactician said, “The goalkeeper is always important. When we signed him last season…we knew Gurmeet had a very good performance for NorthEast (United). He is very young, and more for a goalkeeper. He is a very good goalkeeper but it is true that (Laxmikant) Kattimani was, if not the best, one of the best goalkeepers last season. The good thing for Gurmeet is that he kept training hard.”

Influence of the subs

The Nizams were in control of the game after the arrival of their substitutes. In particular, Javier Siverio and Borja Herrera made a huge impact. Responding to the question if the subs led to the better tempo during the match, Marquez said, “Sometimes same substitution and you lose the game then the questions are different. You have to take decisions, and finally, we decided to first Javi Siverio, which I am very happy about because he deserved to score finally.

He added, "With (Sahil) Tavora and Borja (Herrera), we controlled the situation better and when we scored the second goal, we were happy because again Rohit Danu is not playing too many minutes but is a player with great quality and we will need him during the second leg (of the season).”