Antonio Iriondo: It will be our last chance to get into the top four

The Jamshedpur FC boss also revealed that he feels the game against ATK is his side's last important game of the season.

Jamshedpur FC host ATK in a must-win clash for the Men of Steel considering their poor run of form, where they have won only once in the last five Indian Super League encounters. Ahead of the game on Sunday, Jamshedpur FC head coach Antonio Iriondo interacted with the media in the pre-match press conference.

Antonio Iriondo was asked about the loopholes in defence ever since Tiri's unavailability, as Jamshedpur conceeded four goals in their last match against Chennaiyin. "The only thing we can do is keep working. We can only look around for the best defence that we can find and keep going. That's the best option for now," the tactician began.

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Along with the defence, veteran goalkeeper Subrata Paul hasn't been at his best recently and when questioned about his form, Antonio Iriondo went on to add, "It is not about an individual in sports, as it is a team sport. When a team is not performing well, it is the whole team. Probably missing some important players has affected the other players also mentally. It is tough when you cannot come up with important players in your team. So, we have to try to change that and overcome that situation and keep trying. It is not a matter of only Subrata, it is about the team."

Despite a strong start in the league, Jamshedpur have struggled in the latter and most important part of the season owing to different circumstances. However, the Spaniard feels that there is a chance for his side to make it to the playoffs. 

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"I think there is still a chance. This match is probably the most important match of the season because we are playing against a great team and it is going to be a big challenge for us. It will be our last chance to get into the top four. But, till the time we have options, we will believe," Antonio Iriondo said.

"We have to focus on our game. If you think we only play offensive football without taking care of our defence, it is not true. We have to focus on the defensive part as well. We want to keep the ball, but when you lose it you need to stay balanced and avoid options of counter-attacks. We are struggling that is true, but we are missing players every week and it is sometimes very difficult. We have to play inexperienced players and that is very different and new for them. We are trying to improve on that every game," he added.

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The 66-year-old was asked about the overall importance of foreign players and also about the development of Indian players in his team. "The foreign players are very important not only in the context of the game. We as coaches can teach the Indian players, but the best learning process happens when they copy the foreign players. It is a great way to learn, as Indian players can develop faster by copying the foreigners in the teams," he said.

"You can see the importance of the foreign players, if one of them is missing teams tend to struggle. So, for us, it has been even more a challenge with almost four players out. The Indians are doing well, but they need more time to develop," Antonio Iriondo added.

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Joyner Lourenco, who accompanied the Jamshedpur boss to the press conference, also spoke about the frailties in the backline and his ambitions against ATK. "There are some mistakes which we made in the past few matches, but we are trying to rectify that and stop ATK. Not only stop them, as the coach said, we will look to take three points against them. Hopefully, it will be a good game," he added.

Team News

 Jamshedpur FC do not have any fresh injury concerns, but will continue to miss key players in Tiri and Piti, who are still nursing their respective injuries. 

Head-to-Head

ATK have faced Jamshedpur FC five times in the ISL, winning twice while losing one as well. The other two games have been draws. Antonio Iriondo's men lost the reverse fixture in Kolkata by a scoreline of 3-1. 

Probable Lineup

Subrata; Lourenco, Memo, Narender, Jairu; Farukh, Amarjit, Monroy, Acosta; Castel, Grande. 

Broadcast

The game will be played at the JRD Tata Sports Complex, Jamshedpur on Sunday. The game will be telecast live on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2 HD. It will be available to stream on Hotstar & Jio TV.