Antonio Habas: Our team was tired in the second half

The Spanish tactician expressed his happiness with the result but not with the display of football from ATK.

ATK continued their impressive run with a victory over Chennaiyin FC by a margin of 1-0 at the final whistle. David Williams bagged a goal for the side from Kolkata in the 48th minute and later their coach Antonio Habas appeared in front of the media for the post-match press conference.

However, for a side that thrashed Hyderabad FC 5-0 in their previous encounter, a meagre victory by a single goal might have irked the boss a bit. He was asked about the same to which he replied, "I am happy with the score, but not with the play. I think in the way that the team played, we had many individual errors. Maybe the team today was a bit tired."

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ATK’s backline was well-tested by their opponents, with some convincing waves of attacking moves during the course of the game. The coach was probed about whether he was content with how the team’s defence shaped up and he responded, "I think in the first half, Chennaiyin did not have one chance and we made five of them. But, in the second half, the team was tired. We did one mistake. That problem was through not attacking more in the second half."

“But, the defence of the team is good. The team is positive for us because the team is solid. You can play well, but it is important to win too. Today, we won. The defensive formation depends upon the situation that we play in. We play with three, four or five at the back, but it depends upon the opponent at that time.”

He also reflected upon Chennaiyin’s performance in the game. For the record, John Gregory’s team have failed to register a single victory from three of their games so far and Habas said, "I understand that in football, you play fantastic football and win 5-0, but you have to respect the opponent."

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“The opponent forced to win today. In this game, we made a lot of mistakes. But, we were together as a solid team and played together as 11 players. So, for us, that is very important.”

The coach was quizzed about Michael Soosairaj’s performance and he said, "I am very happy with Soosairaj, as he has a very important role in the team and he is in proving himself every single game. He had confidence from the last two games and he is a very important player for us."

"It depends on the role whether Soosairaj has to defend or attack. But, maybe in the future, we can change something, as in the future I have prepared other things for the team."

ATK will face Jamshedpur FC on the 9th of November in their next game at the Salt Lake Stadium.