Juan Ferrando: Situation is totally different from when we last played them

The ATK Mohun Bagan head coach also shed light on the injury issues of his squad.

ATK Mohun Bagan aim to end the ISL 2022-23 league stages with a bang by defeating arch-rivals East Bengal in the Kolkata Derby on Saturday. A win can potentially ensure a top-three finish for Juan Ferrando's side, helping them get home advantage for the ISL knockout stages.

Ferrando focused on getting win in Kolkata Derby

Juan Ferrando knows the stakes of a Kolkata derby, but remains focused on getting the three points from the game. He said in the pre-match press conference: “Our focus is to win the match and get three points. We’re not thinking about a third or fourth place. Our point of view is to win the match and we’re utmost focused on that.”

He insisted that it doesn’t matter which player is scoring the goals, because the responsibility falls upon the entire team. The Spaniard explained: “The responsibility to attack and defend is on the entire team. It doesn’t matter who scores the goals or sets them up. It’s important for the team to control the spaces and play attacking football, as well as defend as a unit. Everyone knows the rule and everyone is working towards this goal, which I feel is good for the team.”

Thoughts on Cleiton Silva

ATK Mohun Bagan face an East Bengal side who have ISL 2022-23's joint top-scorer, Cleiton Silva in hot form. When asked about if he has any special plans to stop him, the mentor said: “I never think about one player. Football is 11v11. We have a lot of respect for Cleiton, he has performed amazingly this season. But the most important thing is to think about stopping the entire team. On the field, there are 22 players and for me, it’s to think about ousting the entire team.

“Of course, Cleiton is an incredible player, an amazing player and I have a lot of respect for their squad,” he added.

Ferrando praises East Bengal's resurgence

The Spanish manager also praised the resurgence of East Bengal after a poor first half of the season, as he said: “East Bengal started their pre-season two weeks before Durand Cup. They took time to find the best players for their good performances. The coaching staff also eventually found the best players, so it’s totally different from when we last played them. I think in the last 6-7 matches, East Bengal have had a clear plan in attack and in defence too! Against Mumbai, Mumbai were thinking about partying but they (East Bengal) had a very good plan. We have to control some aspects of East Bengal and defeat them.”

What caused ATK Mohun Bagan’s season to slightly derail?

When asked about what caused for things to go wrong this season for ATKMB, Juan Ferrando explained: “We had to change our plan from pre-season. We prepared one plan but had to change that after 3-4 games. When you change important details in 2-3 weeks, it’s difficult for the players to adapt to that. We are, of course, not performing consistently. We are in the same situation as most of the ISL teams, apart from Mumbai and Hyderabad. In the last weeks, everyone is thinking about the playoffs. We prepared a plan in pre-season, but in the end, we needed to change the details. It was necessary to change positions and players and that made it difficult for the players.”

Update on Boumous and thoughts on East Bengal’s physical style

The ATKMB boss gave a cagey update on the fitness of Hugo Boumous, who only played 45 minutes in the last game. He said: “The last 20 days have been difficult for Hugo, because he hasn’t trained in 20 days before the last game. Now he has started training properly in the last few days, but it’s not possible to find the best performance level in 2-3 training (sessions). The rest of the players are working and are ready, which is very important.”

With East Bengal posing a threat to any ISL side with their physicality this season, Ferrando was asked if he feels his team can cope with that aspect amid fears that Carl McHugh might miss the game with a knock. He stated: “We’re all working together. When one player isn’t ready, we’ll find solutions. It’s difficult for some players when they don’t play regularly, but the rest of the players know our plan. We have worked on it in the last two days and it’s important for everyone to support the team, be it different positions, systems or situations.

“I like working with 22-24 players and it’s important to have that squad because then you can prepare a lot of teams. Maybe we struggled this season because sometimes we worked with 12 players. Everyone knows our target and I hope we get three points because it’s important for us to be in the top-three or top-four,” he finished off with.