Win is not far away: Staikos Vergetis after Mumbai City loss

Punjab FC are yet to win a game in ISL

Punjab FC came close to winning their first Indian Super League (ISL) game but went empty-handed from the Mumbai Football Arena after losing by 2-1 against Mumbai City FC on Thursday. The Shers were ahead by a goal courtesy of Luka Majcen but two goals in the 82nd minute of the second half by the hosts resulted in the fourth defeat of the season for the newly promoted club.

Staikos Vergetis spoke to the media after the defeat in the post-match press conference. The head coach was disappointed with the result and felt that his players could have done better to protect the lead. Having said that, he remains positive about his side’s search for the first win of the season.

Here are the excerpts from the conversation:

Lack of experience

The tactician credited the quickfire two goals by Mumbai City FC to a lack of experience in his squad. He spoke about how his team could have done better to protect the lead. “From the beginning of the second half, the opponents added more attacking players in the final third and made our life difficult. They had control of the game and it fell to us to protect our team better.

“Even though we had players in the middle space, we conceded the first goal in the middle space. The second goal came very quickly because of the lack of experience of many players. These are the situations that we have to manage better during the game,” he said.

Not pushing for the second goal and waiting for the first win

Staikos Vergetis explained why his team could not push for the second goal which would have taken Punjab FC closer to winning the contest. He said, “In the second half, Mumbai City FC controlled the game. Even though the first half went according to plan, we could not do this (go for the second goal) because the opponent had most of the ball. Our players were forced to defend a lot of time.”

Furthermore, the tactician clarified that the first win of the season for Punjab FC in the ISL is right around the corner. In this context, he said, “It will come. This is something that we want a lot. Everybody wants to win. I would like my team to be more competitive and in part of the game versus Chennaiyin FC and other games, we were competitive. It is not far away.”

Red card incident

Staikos Vergetis briefly spoke about the second yellow card shown to Dimitris Chatziisaias and indicated that ample replacements are there to take his place in games to come. “It was bad luck to concede a red card a few seconds before the final whistle. I have not yet seen what happened but there are players ready to replace him,” he opined.

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