Hyderabad FC's Shameel Chembakath outlines 'key areas of improvement' after loss against Mohun Bagan

The Mariners defeated the yellow and black by a 3-0 scoreline.

The Indian Super League (ISL) season kicked off with the first fixture happening between Mohun Bagan Super Giant and Shameel Chembakath’s Hyderabad FC at the Salt Lake stadium. The Mariners defeated the visitors by a 3-0 scoreline.

Mohun Bagan started the game well, taking the lead with the courtesy of an own goal from Stefan Sapić in the ninth minute. The Mariners extended their lead with Tom Aldred and Jason Cummings scoring the other two goals.

Shameel Chembakath thoughts

Hyderabad FC’s interim head coach Shameel Chembakath addressed the team’s shortcomings and areas of improvement after the match against Mohun Bagan at the post-match press conference.

“Overall, I’m impressed with the boys, the way they played and how we wanted them to play. Of course, there were silly mistakes in the opening minutes. That’s something we should have avoided, Otherwise, we could have controlled the tempo of the game, and of course, it’s a learning experience for us to go ahead with the upcoming matches.

“I think it’s all about experience and inexperience, I think whoever were there on the pitch, they fought well, My concern right now is that the second half of the game, I think we should have played better,” Shameel Chembakath commented.

Although Hyderabad FC had more ball possession and completed more passes, the head coach acknowledged the defensive lapses that proved costly for them.

“When you play against a team like Mohun Bagan Super Giant, the table-toppers right now, we had a game plan. Of course, it worked well, but defensively, maybe we need to improve more If you look at the stats, if you see the number of passes and passing accuracy, we have been dominating, but there are some errors that we need to correct and that will be the focus on the coming matches,” Shameel Chembakath stated.

Hyderabad FC had seven shots on target, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Shameel Chembakath also emphasized the lack of being able to convert the chances into goals.

“Yeah, Converting chances is one of the things we need to improve on the coming training sessions, of course when you see a lot of young players who come on the bench, they need to be more experienced in such a match against a good side and a strong team, and Abhijith is one of the ones who came in the attacking midfielder for CY Goddard’s position, I think he did well and he got a chance on the last part of the minutes, and I think we need to work on this more,” Shameel Chembakath concluded.

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