Mohun Bagan in current form is the best team in the ISL, exclaims Owen Coyle

Owen Coyle said that inconsistency has troubled Jamshedpur this season.

Chennaiyin FC finds itself on the road in their next Indian Super League (ISL) fixture against Mohun Bagan Super Giant at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata on Sunday. The Marina Machans are mathematically in with a chance to reach the playoffs of the 2023-24 season of the competition and will hope to cause a massive upset in the upcoming game.

Owen Coyle, head coach of Chennaiyin FC, took part in the pre-match press conference and talked about various interesting talking points, including his team’s poor performance against Hyderabad FC which gave the latter their first win of the campaign.

Here are the excerpts from an insightful conversation with the tactician. 

Small margins

Owen Coyle lamented the loss against Hyderabad FC in the previous ISL outing and indicated that the margin of error is really small in the race for the playoffs. He said, “We let ourselves down last time out. Had we won the game like we should have, we would have been sitting in sixth place with a game in hand.

We were more than capable of winning the game against Hyderabad FC. We did not do our job as we did in the previous game, where we beat Odisha who were at the top of the table at the time. We would have been favourites for the playoffs, had we won that game.”

Playing against a good side

Owen Coyle gave respect to the quality and depth of Mohun Bagan SG, suggesting that his side will be up against a very good team. “There is everything to play for but we know that we are going to play against a very good side full of quality players, ready-made players and that is why this club can go and buy, pay the salaries that they pay for such players, credit to them, even without them, I look at their bench and they have some unbelievably talented players like Kiyan Nassiri. I love that kid since the first time I got my eyes on him,” the tactician opined.

“Mohun Bagan SG, at current form, is the best team in the ISL…Without a doubt, we face a difficult task but that is the nature of football” he further added in this context.

Inconsistency

Owen Coyle also credited a lack of consistency for Chennaiyin FC’s troubles this year. Talking about how the team’s performance has been affected because of the breaks during the campaign, the head coach said, “I am not a big lover of all the breaks, the stop-and-start like one in January, I love the high intensity of the game as it keeps the flow going. I wanted to play the following day after the Hyderabad FC defeat.”

“The thing that has let us down this season has been inconsistency, taking chances in one and not taking them in another. We need a complete performance tomorrow and we are capable of winning the game,” Coyle concluded.

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