Happy that other players are ready to step up, asserts Mohun Bagan head coach Juan Ferrando

The win boosted Mohun Bagan back to the top spot of the league again

Mohun Bagan Super Giant had to fight hard to scrape past Jamshedpur FC with a hard-fought 3-2 in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2023-24 game played at the JRD Tata Sports Complex, Jamshedpur on Wednesday, 1 November. The Mariners had to stay on their toes until the last moments, but goals from Armando Sadiku, Liston Colaco and substitute Kiyan Nassiri ultimately got the job done.

After the match, which resulted in four back-to-back wins in the ISL & reclaiming of the top spot, the Mariners head coach Juan Ferrando spoke to the media. Here’s what he said:

Ferrando’s thoughts on the win

Juan Ferrando was a pleased man after seeing his side get the narrow win, as he said after the game: “I’m happy for our supporters and happy about the atmosphere within the dressing room. The players are working hard, the last week was difficult for some players because a few had fever and suffered from problems. But I’m happy because this is the result that the supporters and players deserve. But this is football, we have to recover and continue working towards winning.”

Was Anwar Ali’s absence felt?

When asked if he felt that Anwar Ali’s absence caused the shakiness in his backline, the gaffer replied: “Problems can arise when we don’t play the likes of Ashique, Tangri, Jason or Hugo. But I’m so happy that the other players are ready to step up. Subashish was doing a good job, Armando, Dimitri and Glan made me so happy. Even Kiyan scoring was great and I’m so happy for the players.

“It’s important to try to find the balance and support the players, because we have a lot of matches ahead. We have to be ready for that. We accept sometimes that it’s difficult to maintain a high-performance level due to some injuries, so we need to continue working,” he added.

Is VAR solution to refereeing errors?

The Spaniard refused to blame the referees for the controversies in the game that affected both sides. He explained: “Obviously VAR can help but you know in Europe there is VAR and sometimes it’s successful, but sometimes it isn’t. I hope in future we are thinking of implementing VAR. But we also need to improve everybody. This comes with the coaches. Firstly, we have to improve the coaches, then we need to improve the players and after that we need to talk about the referees.

“But it’s difficult because sometimes it takes to make tough decisions. For me, it’s important that referees and assistants make decisions themselves. Because sometimes, the referee makes a decision and the assistant disagrees with that. In this case, we need to help a lot with the Indian football’s development,” he added.

Thoughts on upcoming AFC Cup clash

Finally, the gaffer hopes that his squad can learn from their mistakes on the night and recover strongly for the upcoming AFC Cup game against Bashundhara Kings. He said: “It takes one mistake for us to concede because we can’t always perfectly control the space or movement or the movement of the opposition team.

“For me, it’s important that when you concede a goal, you analyze about why that happened. The second important thing is the reaction, in football when there is an action, there has to be a reaction. The team is continuing in the same line and improving some details.

“It’s not necessary to talk about missed players, of course, I miss them, but all the time it’s the same. For me when a player is injured, another player has to step up for them in training. Everyone needs to work because in nine months you have to give opportunities to everybody. The players are working in the same way and continue working because it’s all about winning trophies for us. The most important is the next week for us,” he finished with.

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