Manolo Marquez: Need to finish league stage with good feelings

The Hyderabad FC boss also indicated if he'll encourage the rotational policy against Kerala Blasters too.

Hyderabad FC play against Kerala Blasters in their last league game of the ISL 2022-23 season. The game takes place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Sunday in front of thousands of spectators. Both teams are already in the ISL playoffs for this season and will aim to finish the league stage on a high. Manolo Marquez also believes that his team will look to finish with a win after losing their previous game against Jamshedpur FC.

Bartholomew Ogbeche also joined the head coach in the press conference leading up to the match against KBFC, his former team. The pair talked about plenty of notable points and answered questions from the reporters.

Here are the excerpts from the conversation:

Need to finish well

Hyderabad FC’s form is a cause for concern for the tactician. The club has only two wins in the last six matches. The tactician hopes to finish the league stage with a victory. He said, “We have to play this game to win. I think after the defeat against Jamshedpur FC, we need to finish with good feelings.” 

“The opponents will arrive in very good conditions. Maybe physical problems, but at least in terms of mentality, in terms of how they'll train the team, our opponents will be in very good conditions,” he said about the Yellow Army having a slight advantage over his team that has directly qualified for the semi-final.

Target going forward

Manolo Marquez will not let complacency find its roots in his squad. He hopes his team performs well and trains hard before the upcoming playoff fixtures. He said in this regard, “We have to be at least at the same level as our opponents because we need to train hard, we need to play a good game against Kerala Blasters, and then we'll practically have another 10 days to prepare for the game and see who the opponents are and try to qualify for the final. This is our target.”

Rotational policy

The Spaniard indicates that there may not be multiple changes to the starting line-up like there were against Jamshedpur FC. “I don't think so. I think we are playing a game where there are more teams involved in the competition. Playing against Jamshedpur FC was a very good moment (to make changes) because the three points were not important to them in terms of the table,” he said in this context.

Bartholomew Ogbeche returning to Kochi

The striker returns to Kochi for the first time after leaving Kerala Blasters. Talking about the upcoming game and how he is feeling, Ogbeche said, “I'm looking forward to playing a game against a very difficult side, but our mentality is to win. The intention will be to go there with the aim of finishing the regular season with a good feeling, with a lot of confidence going into the semi-finals.” 

“It'll be nice to go back to Kochi, but we go there with the aim of winning the game,” a confident Ogbeche concluded.