Mohun Bagan are going to win ISL Shield and playoffs, says Ivan Vukomanovic

Ivan Vukomanovic’s Kerala emerged losers in a seven-goal masterpiece of a game.

Kerala Blasters FC and Mohun Bagan Super Giant, two giants of the Indian Super League (ISL), turned up the heat in their recent 2023-24 season fixture which ended 3-4 in the favour of the visitors at the JLN Stadium in Kochi on 13 March 2024. Despite a late surge by Kerala, they could not stand against the might of the Mariners, succumbing to their fourth defeat in their last five league matches.

Ivan Vukomanovic, the head coach of the Kerala Blasters FC, lamented his side’s inability to defend set-pieces and committing individual errors that led to the eventual defeat. Vukomanovic also talked about how the Mariners will likely win the ISL League Winner’s Shield this season and the playoffs beyond that during the post-match press conference.

Here are the excerpts from the conversation with the head coach.

Switching off

Conceding goals through set-pieces has been Kerala Blasters FC’s weakness all season and touching on this subject, Ivan Vukomanovic said, “When it comes to set-pieces, you as a team work on that during the week and spend some time. During the game, it comes to concentration, responsibility, and being aware of the situation, believing ‘my man won’t score’. You cannot allow your man to run thinking he won’t score, this is the difference between the top players and those who switch off.”

Proud of the young players

Despite the defeat, the head coach was impressed by his young players who are doing a good job in the absence of key players who are yet to recover fully from their long-term injuries. Speaking about the loss and the effort of his players, Ivan said, “This was the type of game where it was about fighting, winning those duels, and being concentrated on set pieces. In possession, we dominated for most of the match. Some of the young players made me proud today because of the way how they work and improve.”

On individual errors

Ivan Vukomanovic was disappointed by the individual errors that cost his team three points on the night. In this context, he said, “These kinds of errors on the highest level in European football do not happen that often. In my experience, the third year in a row (in Indian football), the Indian Super League (ISL) is a big complex thing of individual errors, continuation of those errors and goals are coming due to such errors. It happens in every game. It goes back to previous education and as players, you need to recognize and not make those errors.”

“We played against one of the best, if not the best teams of the league. In my opinion, they are going to win the shield and the playoffs,” the tactician opined suggesting that his team performed well against a strong Mariners side.

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