Happy with attitude of the players now: Juan Ferrando
Uttiyo Sarkar
The Mohun Bagan maestro also stressed on the importance of gradual improvement.
Mohun Bagan Super Giant stretched their winning run in the Indian Super League (ISL 2023-24) with a decisive 1-0 win over Bengaluru FC on Wednesday, September 27. A goal from Hugo Boumous in the second half was enough to help them get a gritty win that also elevated them to the top of the table.
Juan Ferrando’s thoughts on the result
Despite the win, Juan Ferrando believes that his side still needs to improve in some aspects of their game. He said: “We need to improve going forward in a lot of details. In matches like these, we need to control the spaces better. When the match was 0-0, we worked better. But we forgot to control the spaces after taking the lead, so we need to keep this control. For that, we need more training, but that is difficult because we have another match on Monday. We’ll find the solutions about this situation in that. It’s important for our future success to control these games better.”
Thoughts on attack-minded team
Ferrando defended his side’s inability to score many goals despite their attack-minded lineup. He explained: “The problem was that we started the line-up with many games in the frontline except Armando Sadiku. We put Manvir (Singh) and Liston (Colaco) in the wings, Dimitri (Petratos) and Jason (Cummings) in front and Hugo as a No.10 as well as Sahal as a second No.10. But after the players get tired after the 60th minute, its’ difficult to make good decisions and find the spaces. In this moment, the team was not in a good balance and this is why we went with Glan (Martins) to help us.
“Brendan (Hamill) is also much better in the backline with his distribution. Armando and Dimitri try to push the team, but it’s difficult in that moment. It’s an interesting thing in this championship. But I’m happy with the attitude of the players now. It’s the most important that the players try to do their best,” he added.
Should Mohun Bagan score more goals?
When asked if his side needs to score more goals going forward, Juan Ferrando said: “I think it’s necessary to control the spaces but we created more of the chances today. In the last minute, we created more chances because the opponents worked in transitions than in their defensive style. We need to keep the ball and find the spaces for more chances going forward. In the last minute, we had a few chances but the team was anxious to get the win. This is sometimes our own enemy – to be anxious in football.”
What Mohun Bagan need to improve going forward
Finally, the mentor spoke about his side’s ability to defend against transitions when playing a high defensive line and plans for future matches. He explained: “We are working on that. When we are playing in the attack, we are also playing in the defensive. When we lose the ball and don’t have good reactions, it’s difficult. It’s not easy for the players to play at their most optimum situation because of the games.
“We’re trying to find the best details. We’ll have the same plan for our next two games because both Maziya and Chennayin have the same plan. I hope all my key players will be cleared because they need to win all the actions. It’s not easy to stop the transitions all the time, but I’m hopeful that we can get back to our best next Monday,” the Spaniard finished off with.
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Hugo Boumous’ comments
Man of the Match Hugo Boumous also mirrored his coach’s thoughts and urged his teammates to improve some aspects of their game. He said: “Bengaluru are a tough side to play. Although they created a few chances, we had a lot of possession today and controlled the game. We deserved the win because we ran all the game to create chances and to score. But we still need to improve in the final third with our decision-making. We have to work on that. We need to find better movement in the final third and thankfully we have the quality to improve.”
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