Jose Molina reflects on ISL Shield pressure after Bengaluru FC win

Jose Molina’s Mohun Bagan sit at the top of the ISL table.

A Liston Colaco screamer helped Jose Molina’s Mohun Bagan get back to winning ways in the Indian Super League (ISL) as they picked up a 1-0 win over Bengaluru FC at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Monday (27 January). In doing so, they extended their lead on top of the table to seven points from second-place FC Goa.

Coming off a two-game winless run after two back-to-back draws away from home, some started feeling that it’s because they’re much stronger at home than in away grounds. But Jose Molina defiantly refuted those views, as he stated: “I don’t agree that we produce worse performances in away matches than we do at home. It’s true that with our fans in the stands here, they give us the extra push to help us win.

“When we are an away team, even in away stadiums we have a lot of fans who support us and we are thankful for them. From my point of view, in just one away match, we were the worse team on the pitch,” said Molina

“That was the 3-0 loss to Bengaluru. When we played in Bengaluru, they were the best team and deserved that victory. In the rest of the away matches, even when we lost to FC Goa, that was a 50/50 match in my opinion – we weren’t worst than Goa. In Jamshedpur, we were the better team and the same for the last match against Chennaiyin. To win matches, you need to score goals. It’s great to play in front of home fans, but it’s not true that we are not a good team in away matches,” he added.

On ISL Shield race

When asked if he feels that the Mariners are under less pressure to win the ISL shield race with their points advantage heading into their last six games of the league campaign, Molina explained: “Of course, we are on the top of the table right now. Being in this position, you are in the best place to win the ISL shield and that’s obvious. But the job is not done yet, we still have six league games to play and lots of effort to do. We have to fight hard to win the remainder of the matches.

“We are closer today to the shield, but the job isn’t done at all. Here in Mohun Bagan, there is always pressure. The pressure is the maximum you can have in any Indian team. We understand that and that is not a problem for us, we can live with that. The pressure will be on us until we actually clinch the title, that is what we expect. There is not less pressure right now, we’ll be under pressure until the very end,” he finished with.

Mohun Bagan are back in action in the Indian Super League when they face off against city rivals Mohammedan Sporting on Saturday (1 February).

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