Hyderabad FC's Shameel Chembakath shares his thoughts after draw against East Bengal FC

Hyderabad FC scored a late equalizer and picked up a point from the fixture.

The Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 season’s match between Hyderabad FC and East Bengal FC ended as a 1-1 stalemate on Saturday 28th December 2024 at the G.M.C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium.

It took an incredible free-kick from Cleiton Silva in the 64th minute to create the chance for Jeakson Singh who scored a goal that broke the deadlock and put the visitors in the lead. Edmilson Correia trusted Manoj by passing the ball to him on the left side when he had an opportunity to score the goal. Manoj quickly dispatched the ball into the bottom right corner equalising the game in the 90th minute.

Hyderabad FC’s interim head coach Shameel Chembakath reflected on the team’s performance as he spoke to the media after the game against East Bengal FC.

On the first half and the late equalizer

Hyderabad FC and East Bengal were goalless by the end of the first half. The home side also maintained 56.7% of the possession and had a greater passing accuracy of 87% as opposed to 74% of East Bengal. Talking about their performance in the first half coach Shameel said –

“You know, when your team plays in the beginning of the minutes, I mean the way how we were dominant in the first half, it was good and of course, in the second half, a little bit of pressure came from them from both wings and their fullbacks.But of course, when you are conceding from a free kick, and you are equalizing in the end of the minutes, it really gives happiness for us, of course, when you are coaching a team. And for me, I’m more happy the way they played, how we wanted to play. And of course, if we maintain this possession, maybe we will get more results in the upcoming matches”

On the strategy implemented

Hyderabad FC have been lately scoring from combination play. In the second goal that was scored against North-East United, and even in Manoj’s goal, there was a play of combination involved. The equalizer came from the right, followed by a series of passes, which ended up with Edmilson setting up the goal for Manoj.

“My strategy is more on the build-up play, more on the supporting play, which is more on the triangle formation, so you can see every movement of the ball.  So we don’t want somebody to just struggle when he receives the ball, and there is no support, But now I think the players understand more patterns we are implementing, and they are executing well in the matches. Of course, the North-East match was one of the good matches, which we scored two goals.  But again, there is one thing which we need to improve more. And this match, I think they understand the task at hand well, and defensively too did well whether it was Their lines and coverings or balance, the way they tracked,” he opined.

On Manoj Mohammad’s late equalizer

Manoj scored his first goal for his team in the ISL but the coach expressed that he saw it coming based on his performances in the training and the previous game as well.

“If you come and watch the training, if you see Manoj, it’s a normal thing. And if you see the last match against Northeast too, he got two chances, but they didn’t hit well. But of course, I was just happy Manoj and Rabeeh, the way they were attacking and helping the attacking players, that is one of the best things I’ve seen,” he stated.

On set pieces and areas of improvement

Hyderabad FC could not convert any of the 10 corners they got during the match. Coach Shameel feels that the team have room for improvement in that area.

 “I think set-pieces is the one area where we need to improve. The last season onwards, I am working with the players. I think they understand our roles and responsibilities well now, Talking about Set-pieces, whoever gets succeeded, is likely more experienced and we have young players so sometimes they struggle to compete with big, experienced opponents. We are working on improving on this aspect.” He concluded.

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