Marco Balbul believes NorthEast United can turnaround season in Kolkata

The head coach also spoke about Sylvester Igboun's departure and more.

NorthEast United FC find themselves in a very tough position even though it’s just been a month since the 2022-23 ISL season kicked off. Marco Balbul's side have lost five consecutive games and are the only team who are yet to get off the mark on the points table.

This is not just their worst start ever, but also the worst ever by any ISL side in the brief history of the league. The road ahead looks no easy as the Highlanders will make a short trip to Kolkata to face the mariners up next who come into the game following a hard-fought draw against Mumbai City FC. 

Ahead of the clash, head coach Marco Balbul and attacking midfielder Imran Khan addressed the media. Here’s what they had to say:

Thoughts on ATK Mohun Bagan

The head coach began by sharing his thoughts on his next opponent ATK Mohun Bagan. He said that they are one of the best teams in the league and it will be one of the most difficult away games of the season.

“For me, they are one of the best teams in the league for sure. They have a good squad with talented players. It will be one of the most difficult away games for sure. But we believe that we can go there as we did in Bangalore where we deserved a point.

“It will be difficult, but to close the gap between the teams, we need to be organised in defence. And we will get our chances to score and we should score,” he replied.

Unhappy with the performance of strikers?

The Highlanders have scored just one goal in five matches so far. When quizzed about if he is unhappy with the performance of his strikers, Balbul replied, “I don’t like to speak individually about players. Until now I didn’t like it at all. It’s been a poor performance from our team until now, but we should be better. We have better players to make a better performance, for sure."

ATK Mohun Bagan’s attacking threat

The Mariners possess a powerful frontline with some of the best players in the league. When asked if he will choose to have a defensive approach going into the game, Balbul said that he believes in having a balance between attack and defence.

“My philosophy is to have a balance and if you want to win games, you need to have a good balance between offence and defence. We’ll try to block their offensive players, the wingers, and strikers and Boumous is a very good player. We should be ready for them and also they have weaknesses which we need to use to score goals,” he stated.

How to keep players motivated

The first five games have been very disappointing for the Highlanders. Marco Balbul threw some light on how he is keeping his players motivated in such tough times. He said that his team is motivated to go to Kolkata and change the momentum.

“There is no doubt that we are not happy with the results of our previous games. And it’s really frustrating, but we still believe that we can work very hard to change the situation. It's my responsibility to find a solution and be a better team in all aspects. We have the motivation to go to Kolkata and change the momentum. In football, you need to believe,” he quipped.

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Right Playing XI?

NorthEast United have looked very unsettled in terms of player selection in the five games so far. Marco feels his side hasn’t yet found the right way to win games. He’ll try to find a solution to this.

“I think in most of the games we had a consistent team more or less. We haven’t found the right way to win games and this is an area where I’m looking to improve. We need to score goals and keep a clean sheet to win, need to be more aggressive and concentrated in defence and be more calm and composed when we attack. This is the solution I’ll try to find in Kolkata,” he said.

Impact of Sylvester’s departure

As reported earlier, Sylvester has left NorthEast United. When asked about how much the player’s departure affected the club’s plan, Marco said that it has hurt the team a lot. But the club has put in all possible efforts to get a replacement.

“Of course, if you lose a foreigner in this league, it hurts the team a lot. But, I can tell you that the club worked very hard to find a striker, but it’s not very easy to find the right fit. But, the club has put in a lot of effort to bring us a new striker,” he concluded.