Juan Pedro Benali: We play like never and we lose like always

The NorthEast United coach is pround of how the young players played in the first half.

Mohun Bagan Super Giant bounced back to winning ways with a thumping 1-3 comeback victory over NorthEast United away from home. The Highlanders lost their second home game of the season and are now winless in their last five ISL games.

Phalguni Singh opened the scoring with a ferocious strike in the fourth minute before Deepak Tangri restored parity for the Mariners. Jason Cummings and Subhasish Bose scored two more goals as ten men NorthEast United looked helpless.

After the game, NorthEast United’s head coach Juan Pedro Benali addressed the media.

Thoughts on the game

Sharing his thoughts the game, the head coach said, “In Spanish we have a saying that says we play like never and we lose like always. We continued in the game, but then the mistakes finished everything especially against a team like Mohun Bagan. But I’m proud if we look at some parts of the game because we played good football,”

Thoughts on Mirshad Michu

Mirshad Mich made two mistakes which directly led to a goal. When asked about him, Benali said that he has improved a lot in comparison to last season.

“If we compare his performance with last season, this season he has improved a lot. He made a mistake that cost us. A striker makes a mistake, we don’t see it. A goalkeeper stops ten balls but makes one mistake, we all point to him with a finger. This is the life of goalkeepers. We have no choice. That’s what we need to play with,” he asserted.

Referees’ decisions

When asked about if the decision made by the referees were unfair, the head coach replied and said, “After the game I will not talk about the referees because he does his best. Whatever happens in the green stays in the green. I thank him for his work and looking forward to seeing him in another game,

Young players’ performance

Sharing a word about the performance of his young players, the Spaniard said that he was proud of his young players because they did a great job.

“I am really proud of them. In the first half, we were winning set pieces, winning in midfield, attacking from the flanks, and pressing them. They cannot find out how to play. Proud of Macarton Louis Nickson, Huidrom Thoi Singh, Konsam Phalguni Singh, everybody. They did a great job,” he signed off.

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