All games in ISL are difficult, claims FC Goa boss Manolo Marquez

Manolo Marquez’s Goa need to win to keep their hopes alive of reaching the semi-final directly.

FC Goa hits the road as it travels to face Jamshedpur FC at the JRD Tata Sports Complex on Tuesday in the 2023-24 Indian Super League. Manolo Marquez has done a sensational job in his first season as the head coach of FC Goa. The Gaurs are already in the playoffs and are eyeing one of the top two spots that will ensure a direct semi-final berth after the conclusion of the league stage.

Brandon Fernandes joined the tactician in the pre-match press conference in the build-up to the game. The skipper talked about his chances of playing for the national team and more. As for Manolo Marquez, he spoke extensively about key issues before the conclusion of the league stage.

Here is what both of them had to say during the media interaction.

About playing time for the national team

The skipper presented his thoughts on the prospect of getting more playing minutes for India considering his ISL performances. “As a player, I always have to be on my toes and work hard in every training session. If I play or not play, it is up to the coach. If the coach wants me, I will always be ready even in the national team. I am training well and if the coach wants to give me the opportunity, I am ready,” asserted Brandon.

Manolo Marquez’s impact

Brandon Fernandes spoke positively about the kind of impact Manolo Marquez has had at FC Goa this season. Brandon said, “I have trained under several coaches and every coach has different training and opinions. As a player, it is always good to train under different coaches as you get to learn a lot from them and their experiences.

“As for Manolo Marquez, he is a proven coach in the ISL and whatever he has done in Hyderabad in the last three years speaks for itself. His coming into this club has improved every player. He is a little bit hard on us but otherwise, he is a good coach for us and if we can listen to him, every player and the club can improve a lot,” he added.

Manolo Marquez on managing the Blue Tigers

The Spaniard chose to reserve his opinion on the chance of becoming the head coach of the Indian men’s national team. Manolo said, “This is a press conference for Jamshedpur FC vs FC Goa, not the Indian national team. I indeed said, one day I would like to be the national team coach. I have a very good relationship with Igor Stimac, I won’t say anything about this because he is the National team coach. I expect the National team to beat Kuwait and let’s see about Qatar and qualify for the next round.”

Assessment of the second leg of the league stage

Manolo Marquez spoke about faltering in the second half of the league stage due to several factors. He mentioned, “Throughout the competition, we had good scores in the first leg and were unbeaten. Then we went six consecutive games with three draws and three defeats. Indeed, it is not a regular season that I like, it is fair when you play home and away with every team in the same condition, not Durand Cup or Super Cup. It is a fair but short competition because in countries where football is like a religion, usually, the competition is with 18-20 teams. In 22 games, if you are with bad scores, you can go down in the table.

“In terms of results, it is difficult to improve on our first leg. We are fourth in the league table after the second leg which is correct but let us see if it is enough to win the Shield. The thing we can’t count on is Mumbai City FC has extra points. Without those two extra points, the table could be close for all the top four,” Manolo added.

On hype towards Jay Gupta

The tactician gave his opinion on the praise that has been awarded to Jay Gupta in his breakthrough season. He said, “It is very difficult to avoid these kinds of things. When young players play two or three good games, everyone speaks about them which is negative, such as in the case of Parthib Gogoi. Jay Gupta is young and has to learn a lot of things.

“This is a big process, not only in Hyderabad in India but I also train a lot of B teams in Spain. The good thing is when you are in the B team, nobody speaks about the players. The quality of these training sessions is high and the next step is to go to professional football.

“There are no things like people speaking about the players. Here, it is true that you need to have a strong mentality to be humble and a lot of other things. To be a good professional, the time you sleep, the nutrition, and everything. In my four years in India, these aspects have been improving but still, they can improve more. I feel that, in my first two seasons, the off-season was very long with playing only five months, it is not enough. It is better now as they have been playing for nine months.”

Space for both sports in a big country like India

Manolo Marquez indicated that Indian football will grow if the focus on the grassroots is intensified in each State of the country. “Don’t ask me about this as I received a lot of private messages from cricket fans. I think there is space for both sports in such a big country. I love India, if not I would not be here. It is like 20 countries in one and some states seem like different countries.

“There are states where cricket is less and football is more important than cricket like in Goa or NorthEastern states. Finally, it is about, whether there is space for both and as a football player, my feeling indeed is that, when I spoke with players and coaches before COVID, there were more people in the stadiums than now.

“This is one thing that we have to turn. You get this with good scores of teams playing at the Asian Cup or the national team but the rules now say that Indian clubs cannot play in the AFC Champions League. This does not help Indian football, it is not fair. You can play the preliminary rounds but you can play the second competition if you don’t qualify. but it is not fair finally.

“It’s difficult but at least, we can speak about this for two hours, it is not about the ISL which is only the image of India for the world. You have to start with grassroots in every state altogether because it is difficult to organize. You have to start grassroots in every part of India with kids.”

Expecting a difficult game

Speaking about the contest against Jamshedpur FC, he said, “All games in the ISL are difficult. We were nil-nil with the bottom team in the league table last time. The second half was better as there were problems in the first half. We know that Jamshedpur was out of the playoffs but when the coach arrived here, everyone thought that it was impossible, Jamshedpur and Hyderabad were practically out and the team reacted well.

“There are scores and styles of play that are very difficult to play against because the line of four is Indian but the other six are foreigners, with a good goalkeeper. For sure it will be a difficult game for us and them. If we want to win, we need to play a good game for sure.” 

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