Owen Coyle: We should have added to the score

Owen Coyle also spoke of the penalty-takers in his Chennaiyin FC contingent.

Chennaiyin FC delivered a professional performance against Bengaluru FC as they emerged 2-0 winners from their 2023-24 Indian Super League fixture at the JLN Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday. The Blues did not help their cause after giving away two penalties which were duly converted by Rafael Crivellaro and Jordan Murray, respectively.

While Owen Coyle was delighted with the result, he expected his team to add more goals. He was particularly pleased with the clean-sheet and thanked the fans for their support, in the post-match press conference after the game.

Here are the excerpts:

Analysis

Owen Coyle praised his team’s sustained dominance over Bengaluru FC. He said, “It was an outstanding performance from start to finish. It was good to get a clean-sheet. If I am honest, the 2-0 score flattered Bengaluru because we should have added to the score. I don’t think Debjit (Majumder) had any saves in the first half while Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made two or three great saves.”

On penalty takers

Chennaiyin FC received two penalty kicks during the game, which were perfectly taken by Rafael Crivellaro and Jordan Murray, respectively. Speaking on the topic of a designated penalty-taker in the squad, Coyle said, “What we have are very good penalty-takers. Between Rahim (Ali), Rafa (Crivellaro), Cristian (Battocchio), etc, we have lots of players who can take penalties because they practice them as well. That keeps the keepers guessing if different guys come up.”

Thankful for the support

Owen Coyle thanked the fans for their immense support and expects his team to deliver more wins as the season progresses. He stated, “There are lots of stuff still to learn and get better at. But, we are taking nice steps. It was nice to see the fans so happy because they are loyal and get behind the team. So from me, thank you to the fans, we will keep doing our best and get you more wins, keep trying to put smiles on your faces and come to the end of the season, we will look to push ourselves into the top six places where we can fight out for the ISL Trophy.”

Owen Coyle concluded the conversation by expressing delight over keeping a clean-sheet, as his team leaves itself weak at the back due to their attacking, aggressive type of gameplay. 

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