Antonio Habas says it doesn’t matter whether Krishna can score

The ATK Mohun Bagan boss also added that the attitude of the Fijian, his behaviour and his work on the pitch is what matters to him.

ATK Mohun Bagan are looking to get back to winning ways in the Indian Super League (ISL) when they face NorthEast United FC in their first game of 2021. With the Highlanders winless in their last five games, the Mariners will be determined to capitalize on their vulnerability and get a big win to stay up at the top of the table. Ahead of the game, head coach Antonio Habas spoke in the pre-match press conference.

Despite the frustrating goalless draw against Chennaiyin FC in the last game, Antonio Habas revealed that he isn’t worried about his strikers missing goal-scoring chances. 

“I will be worried if we did not have any chances to score. But in football, you can create magic in one moment which wasn’t possible in the three matches before. It all depends on different situations in the games.”

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The possible reason behind ATKMB attacking worries is their full-backs are not creating as many chances as they were expected to make. When asked about whether his full-backs underperformed against Chennaiyin, the Spaniard quipped, “No, absolutely no. We didn’t concede goals! They are human after all. Maybe one player can have a bad day.”

“The idea is how many goals the opponent scored. The defenders for me have to be strong defensively and going forward, not only one. I am happy with the performances of the player. Maybe one day one player will have a better performance than the others. They are only people after all, not machines,” he added. 

Anotnio Habas also revealed that he is not worried about Roy Krishna being marked in the games and said, “I have to analyse the performance and why he was nullified. In the last match, the behaviour and performance of Krishna was 100%. It doesn’t matter whether he can score goals or not. The more important thing his attitude, his behaviour and his work on the pitch.”

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While the tactician still doesn’t want to talk much about qualifying for the playoffs, he is confident in his team’s ability to stay at the top for the entirety of the season. 

“There is a good level of confidence in the team. At the same time, there is a big possibility of us competing in the top-two in the table. I think that the team is prepared for that.”

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The Spaniard also insisted that there’s no general target his team has on how many points they want to be in after 10 games, saying, “I don’t know. It depends on the opponent really. The general idea for us is to get three points in every game.”

Edu Garcia joined his coach in the pre-match interaction and also believes he’s far from his best this season, saying: “I’m not at my best yet. I can be better. I’m happy because the beginning of the season wasn’t the easiest for me. Because of injuries I didn’t feel good. Now I’m feeling better and I’m happy. I’m trying to do my best.”

When asked about his thoughts on playing the deeper role behind the strikers against Chennaiyin FC, Garcia explained, “I don’t know that. It’s because of the coach, he decides our position on the pitch. I can play in many positions. I’m comfortable playing as a midfielder or even as a second striker or playmaker. That game we played like this and it wasn’t our best game. David and Manvir are great strikers for me, they are fast and they help us a lot.”

The playmaker also insisted that the Mariners aren’t dependent on him to create attacking chances, saying that it’s the entire team’s effort that matters. 

“Of course not. I think our strength is always the team itself. We have very good players but we do nothing individually. We need everyone at their 100%. That’s why we could get the trophy last season. This season it’s also the same, we’re a very strong team.”

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