What did Juan Ferrando say on ATK Mohun Bagan's January window objectives?

The head coach also discussed the game against FC Goa and the performance of some of his players.

Juan Ferrando's ATK Mohun Bagan made it five home wins in a row in the Indian Super League (ISL) with a 2-1 win over FC Goa on Wednesday. Dimitri Petratos and Hugo Boumous got on the score sheet to help the Mariners get back to winning ways and also move up to third place in the ISL table. Anwar Ali scored the only goal of the game for FC Goa.

ATK Mohun Bagan head coach Juan Ferrando met with the media and discussed the game and his team's performance. Below are the excerpts from the conversation:

Reaction to the win

Coming at the back of a bad loss to NorthEast United to win this one, Juan Ferrando was questioned if his team performs the best under pressure. He answered, “It’s difficult to prepare for matches in this season because of our bad luck with injuries. It’s not so easy for the players, because they’ve struggled to be in the best condition to play every game. The last 26 days have been incredible for us, we’ve suffered many important injuries.

“For example, Dimitri Petratos had problems with his hips in the last two weeks but he worked to do his best. It’s incredible how much effort the players are putting in during this difficult situation. How we’ve lost to the NorthEast United game and then come back today, it’s important to think about the positive things than our performances. Our performances are not always the best because it’s difficult to prepare for games with so many injuries,” he added.

January window objectives

When asked if his club is intent on signing a new no.9 to help them in the January transfer window, Juan Ferrando produced a passionate rant, saying: “In different positions, the players attack the spaces. The club is working very hard in the transfer window. It’s difficult to find exact No. 9 players because the best players are contracted to teams. It’s necessary to try to find players who, when we attack, can help us create and attack the spaces. I think at this moment, you have an example in Dimitri, he has five goals now and assists a lot of goals.

“Of course, the likes of Liston (Colaco), Manvir (Singh) and Ashique (Kuruniyan) miss chances at items, but it’s better to be happy because we have many players in our attacking positions to be clinical in the last part. We don’t have to depend on one player or a No. 9. I don’t know why people have this mental block that we need one no.9. We need players to help us create spaces and opportunities, with talent and those who know the spaces when the team is attacking. It’s difficult to find a player like this in winter. The club is trying to find players who have ISL experience, which is very good.

“At the moment, in this part of the season, we only have three-four foreign players. We had four foreigners today after two months. We need to think about enjoying the match because we have a lot of talent on the team. They showed incredible character to win today. Forget about asking for another No. 9. If you can’t find the best, it’s necessary to create new plans. It’s important to put energy into these things,” he added.

Plans for Mumbai City game’s preparation

Ferrando is looking forward to the big game in ISL against Mumbai City next month but is hoping to have more players available in training before that. He said: “Of course, the Mumbai will be a different one from the FC Goa game, it’s necessary to prepare a different plan. But we need to talk with our medical staff about our players to get a good recovery. In the last two three weeks, we’ve prepared the training with support staff, that’s not good. It’s important now to find good recovery, and good players and hope we can train with the entire squad in 3-4 days except Joni Kauko or Florentin Pogba. That’s the most important thing for me.”

Ferrando defends Liston, Ashique from criticism

Juan Ferrando also defended his young forwards Ashique Kuruniyan and Liston Colaco from criticism, after they missed big chances in the last few games. The Spaniard explained: “Ashique is 25. Liston is 23 or something. Manvir is 26. Maybe in one year, Manvir will be at the best moment of his career. My job today is to use our Indian strikers. When Liston will be 27, he’ll have more experience in scoring situations. This is my job as well. My job is, of course, to win matches but when I talked with Igor Stimac he told me to try and improve the local players. Of course, sometimes they can miss chances, and they can lose the ball in the build-up but the job of my foreign players and me is to support them.

“If Liston can miss 20 chances now in front of the goalkeeper, for me it’s important to ensure that he only misses 10 times next season. When he’s 27, we need to ensure it’s only one time. The process is to keep working. Of course, I want to win 6-0 every game, that’ll be better for my health, but this is our job. This is why we’re at this club. The club really trusts in the local players and it’s our job to help them improve,” he added.

How can ATKMB solve their occasion drop in performances?

Finally, the ATKMB gaffer was asked about why his side’s performance levels crash during games at times in ISL and what he plans to do to fix that. He said: “Players are forced to keep up high performances in every game in a 20-match league. Even in the Premier League, the good players have two good matches and the performance then drops. It’s difficult to keep up a top performance level for a long period. That’s why we need foreign players to support the team and continue this performance. That’s our target. Sometimes, I don’t like talking about injuries as we don’t want to make it an excuse.

“You have one match where our performance is good, but another match it isn’t good. That’s because it’s difficult to work like this. In this league, we only have 20 matches but in Europe, it’s at least 38-42 matches. Imagine how good the ISL can be with 20 teams. But it’s important to work in this way. This is our process and I hope to find a solution to our momentum dropping soon. But don’t forget that players are human, sometimes they’re affected by emotional things and that can cause a drop in performance levels,” Juan Ferrando added.

Dimitri Petratos’ comments

Man of the Match Dimitri Petratos, who scored and assist a goal each, spoke about what motivated him to produce this performance. He said: “Sometimes we lose a game like this and then we have to see who are the real men in the team. I feel like tonight whoever was featured, those who started and came on from the bench, but those who couldn’t show their character. We have to be men and go out and fight on the pitch, which we did tonight.”

Speaking about how he plans to motivate the ATKMB Indian players ahead of the big Mumbai City game in ISL, the forward stated:  “Look the last game against Mumbai was a great game and I hope for the same this time. I’ll ask the players to really show up, they’re the 12th men for us. It’s a big game, but every game is winnable. Our focus is to prepare for the game. The Indian players, it’s part of the game to miss chances, but we keep going and the goals will come. I believe they’re playing well and the main thing is to get the three points as a team.”