Sergio Lobera highlight teams' preparations and aspirations ahead of game against FC Goa

FC Goa will take on Sergio Lobera’s Odisha FC in ISL on Thursday evening.

Sergio Lobera’s Odisha FC, who are currently placed seventh, will be vying for the three crucial points when they take on FC Goa to make it to the top six qualifying teams in the league table. Meanwhile, the hosts are placed third in the league table behind Mohun Bagan Super Giant and Jamshedpur FC with 33 points from 18 games,

Odisha FC has 25 points from 18 games and is only three points behind Mumbai City FC from the same number of games played. However, the Juggernauts are six points clear of the Islanders in goal difference.

As the high-flying Gaurs take on the low-lying Juggernauts in Round 21 of the Indian Super League, Sergio Lobera interacted with the media ahead of this crucial tie in a pre-match press conference. During the media interaction, the Spanish gaffer quoted, “We are very focused, and we have prepared ourselves to the fullest to face them.”

Whenever a team plays in an away game, it is always the home team who boasts an added advantage. Every visitor prepares themselves under the coach’s tactical acumen to edge past their opposition’s added advantage. But the scenarios in which the team has to play always remain tough and pretty challenging whatsoever.

Style of play

The Spanish gaffer loves the possession game and nurtures his team in such a fashion that they display a flair of vertical tiki-taka while on the field. Upon this, the coach commented, “This is our style of play; the way we play, we love to have possession of the game. And we do that to a very good extent, and we do it very well. We do create chances because of the way we play.”

He further added, “Creating chances itself shows that we are a very creative-minded team, and we create a lot of chances. So, when there are a lot of chances, there are chances that you might miss a few of them. But if you see, we are one of the second highest-scoring teams in the league, so that shows it’s not only about creating, but the thing that we are missing is the balance, the exact balance for us.”

Injury news

All the players of Odisha FC are in good shape, and each one of them will be available for the next game. However, the risk of injury always remains in a sport like football. However, the medical staff always remains cautious about the players’ well-being and fitness ahead of the matchdays.

“We have a very good medical team, a good medical support staff out there who take care of these players before they are put up into the game availability. And we are very confident with the way they deal with the players. So, when they come back, we know they are 100% fit and ready to go for the games, 100%,” the coach said.

“The risk of injury is even the fittest person will get injured on a given day. So, injury can’t be predicted. Yeah, we do manage it; we do manage it. But again, we have got a good medical staff who sees to it that the players are not rushed into the game, but they are available only when they are fully fit for the game. As for now, we are very good. All the players are available for the next match,” he further added.

Team mindset

The Juggernauts will be eyeing to bag those three crucial points from their visit to the West Coast as they are still in the competition for the knockout stage. In Sergio Lobera’s words, “It’s going to be a tough game playing in Goa against Goa. Because for me, FC Goa is one of the most organized teams in the league, under a very good coach, Manolo. So, we know it’s going to be tough, but we have our plans cut out.”

He further added,” Every player in our team, especially after these last two games, if you see, we have come from behind to secure points, which shows the mentality of the team, what they want. And going forward, that positiveness is going to help us a lot because we’ve got three matches in another seven, eight days, maybe nine days. So going forward, we are just looking out for a win to get maximum points from this upcoming game.”

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