Phil Brown: We lost Rafa Lopez Gomez and the whole game changed

The Englishman was left distraught as his side slumped to yet another shameful defeat in the league.

Despite taking an early lead, Hyderabad FC slumped to a 5-1 loss against Kerala Blasters FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi. It was Hyderabad's eighth loss of the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20 as Phil Brown sees his side rooted to the bottom of the table with just five points after 11 outings. After the match, Hyderabad head coach Phil Brown shared his take on the contest at the post-match press conference. He said, “I fully believed in the preparation for the game. I thought the game plan was working and I couldn’t have expected it to go any better. But we knew the physical presence of Messi Bouli and (Bartholomew) Ogbeche would be a threat at some stage. That was being handled very well by the two centre-backs and the sitting midfield player." [KH_ADWORDS type="3" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS] "When we lost one of our centre-backs (Rafael Lopez Gomez), the whole game changed. Regardless of how the scoreline finished, the change in the makeover of the game was the injury to Rafael.” “We had a game plan and then we lose one player and the plan goes out of the window. We didn’t play well in the second half. We were loose. We were all over the place. We were not disciplined. We were trying to do things we can’t do. And consequently, deservedly lost the game,” he added. The 60-year-old made several changes to his starting XI for the match. Asked if the move may have backfired, the Englishman opined, “When you work three days on a change of goalkeeper, a change of left-back, and a change of centre-back, that’s a lot of work, that’s a lot of coaching. But once the first and second goals went in, I felt we were bullied after that. I thought the players went under and the character of the team was tested, and we didn’t stand up to it. I hold myself responsible for that.” [KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News | Article Continues Below"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS] “Tonight, for 30 minutes I felt as if I was a decent coach. For 90 minutes, I’m not. That’s the reality of football,” he further added. Regarding potential signings in the January transfer window, Brown commented, “I am in contact with the owners of a daily basis. We’ve got three home games coming up now with an opportunity for nine points. But this will hurt one or two. This will scar one or two. If Rafael doesn’t recover in time for the next game, I could possibly add a new centre-half to the group but hope he does recover. We are waiting for the news, fingers crossed.”