Juan Ferrando not happy with ATK Mohun Bagan's performance

The Mariners edged out Jamshedpur FC to take all three points at home.

ATK Mohun Bagan continued their winning run in the Indian Super League (ISL) with a late 1-0 win over Jamshedpur FC at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Thursday. A Hugo Boumous penalty in added time was enough to help the Mariners pick up their third successive win and move up to third place in the ISL table.

Ferrando not totally happy with narrow win

Despite the narrow win, Juan Ferrando was not happy with his side’s overall performance. He said after the game:  “No I’m not that happy with the performance. I think in the first half - knowing our situation that Brendan (Hamill) was out and Carl (McHugh) had to play in his place. Carl, Hugo (Boumous) and Dimitri (Petratos) were the only foreigners playing. Hugo and Dimitri played with some problems because they suffered some problems in the last training, so we only played with one foreign player 100% fit. Manvir (Singh) is also out because of injury, Joni Kauko and Florentin Pogba are out.

“The team found it difficult to train in the last few days because of the lack of time to prepare for the matches. But that’s not an excuse. We tried to find the best system today to help the team, to find the spaces to attack into. In the first half, we couldn’t find the spaces and also we missed the easy passes – maybe because of their pressing or the mentality of the team wasn’t in a good mood.

“But in the second half, I feel the team improved a lot – they controlled the spaces and tempo. Except for the last minute, they only had one chance. In the final third, we found it tough to find spaces maybe because Eli Sabia and Peter Hartley are good centre-backs and they made it difficult for us to find the spaces,” he added.

What can ATKMB do to cope up with their issues?

When asked about how difficult he feels it is to cope up with the various problems that have haunted his side this season, Ferrando said: “It’s difficult because it’s not possible to prepare the team all the time. All the time when you have 22-24 players to prepare for the matches but in every training, you have 12-15 players with problems, it’s difficult. In this case, it’s for the players to show their character and personality to control the spaces in difficult moments and to continue to work in build-up. Our mentality is difficult to change and in this moment when the situation is not good, it’s necessary to take a breather and continue to work on our goals.”

Ferrando unbothered by lack of goals

Ferrando has brushed away any speculation of him worrying about ATK Mohun Bagan's side’s lack of goals in the last few games. He explained: “In the end, it’s the three points that really matter. For me, it’s not important if you win the matches 3-1, 2-1, 4-2 or whatever. It’s about winning the three points. Of course, for me, the problem is if the opposition creates a lot of chances rather than us not creating that many chances. Today, we had two or three shoots – but for the rest of the match it was difficult to find the spaces in the final third.

“For Jamshedpur, I think the substitution with Rafael Crivellaro resulted in them never creating any opportunities toward the end and the game would’ve finished 0-0 like that. But it’s good when the team tries to play in the attack and find the spaces, we’re not having success in scoring – that’s true and we know what needs to be improved – but to get three successive wins is difficult in this league. In this moment, I think except from Mumbai City until FC Goa, the difference between everyone is 3-4 points. Everyone is very close to each other, so it’s normal that the end of the matches the score is 1-0 or 0-0. Except for Mumbai, where the scores are 6-2, 5-1 or 4-1. It’s the normal scores otherwise,” he added.

Thoughts on Liston Colaco’s performance

Liston Colaco had a disappointing game and has struggled to get going this season. When asked about if he’s worried about his form, the Spaniard exclaimed: “When the players know, in case of Liston or the other players who are not performing well, our job is to support him and to continue working on improving him. In Liston’s case, players like him will have success and produce good performances at times – but sometimes they won’t. Our job is to support him and find the best positions for him. Step by step, his confidence will get better and we’ll soon see the best Liston.”

Ferrando reflects on his side’s points total

Finally, upon being questioned on if he’s satisfied with having 19 points from the first 9 games, Ferrando hinted at certain ‘groups’ of teams having formed in the ISL. He stated: “This season for me is very difficult, in my point of view. Because three teams, are top, which are Mumbai City, Hyderabad and Odisha. They are like formula one, they’re in the pole or podium positions all the time.

“Then there is a second group, which involves those in 15-16 points. Our target is to get 3 points from every match and prepare for it really well. I hope in the end we can be at the top of the table, this is our dream. But I think the most important is to put focus on Odisha because that will 100% be a very difficult match because their performance is amazing this season. It’ll be a difficult match for sure,” he finished with.