Antonio Habas: Lack of rest, rapid continuity of games proving heavy

The Spaniard spoke about his side's preparations ahead of the clash against Kerala Blasters on Sunday.

ATK Mohun Bagan will be aiming to get back to winning ways when they face Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Sunday. Having fallen six points behind league leaders Mumbai City FC, Antonio Habas and Co are in desperate need of a big win to re-assert their chances of finishing the league stages as table-toppers.

Hoping for a better performance from referees

Despite respecting the threat of Kerala, Antonio Habas is hoping for a better performance from the referees, after some poor decisions cost the Mariners in the last game. He said, “Kerala is a good opponent and I think we have the possibility to win. We need a lot of discipline and intelligence to win because Kerala are playing their matches very well. For the referees, I don’t understand the situation.

“Maybe, we don’t have any luck with some referees. In one match, the referees make us concede a goal after a very clear foul. Then they can’t detect a clear penalty or players that are offside. I think referees can have one mistake, but not three big mistakes in the same match. We have the need to support the referee, but sometimes I don’t understand their performance. We have to continue. Never in my career do I think about the referee before a match,” he added.

Blasters' improvement

The tactician admitted that the Blasters have improved in the last few games, saying, “Yes, Kerala have improved a lot over the last few games. But, we have to enforce our possibility to win. I have confidence in my team. Sometimes, we have to think about the possibility of the opponent before games. We can’t get complacent. We need to find information about Kerala and to have the balance necessary to know about the opponent.”

Antonio Habas also wants his players to keep improving their attacking performances to get more goals. He said, “I think that we were improving our performances in the last few games, but we have to continue in the same proportion. Because after the first half, the team consolidated the system and consolidated the idea. Now, we have to improve and increase our attacking performances.”

Lack of rest

The Spaniard also believes that lack of rest for players and the different circumstances from last season might be hurting them. He explained, “I think the performances (from last season) are similar because we had at the same points, but the circumstances in the competition is very different this time. We got a player injured at the start of the season and that changed the dynamic.

“Like last season, I remember we practically didn’t have injury problems in our squad over the last 2-3 months. Obviously, the departure of Agus (Garcia) was forced, but there weren’t big problems. But this season, one after another problem is piling on. The lack of rest and rapid continuity of games are proving heavy to the team,” he added.

Different plan to score goals?

Finally, the tactician shrugged away questions about whether he’s developing more plans to get his team to score more goals. He said, “I am a coach of football, I’m not a magician. If I had a plan to score 4-5 goals every match, I’d be the best coach in the world. That’s impossible! I have a plan to win matches every day," concluded Antonio Habas.