Antonio Habas: This one match won't decide our season

The Spaniard was reasonably disappointed after his side's first defeat of the season on Monday.

ATK Mohun Bagan suffered their first loss of the Indian Super League (ISL) season, succumbing to a 2-1 loss to Jamshedpur FC on Monday. A brilliant brace from Nerijus Valskis was enough to give Owen Coyle’s men all three points and despite Roy Krishna pulling one back late in the second half, Antonio Habas and Co. couldn’t salvage anything from the game.

The Spaniard was understandably disappointed with the loss and when asked about Jamshedpur capitalizing on his side’s defensive weakness, he said, “I don’t think there are any weaknesses in the team. We conceded two goals from set-pieces and this is the first time we’ve conceded goals in set-pieces. For me, it was an accident today. The opponent had some very dangerous players who capitalized on their set-pieces. The problem isn’t that we’ve conceded two goals, the problem is we spent too much time on our pitch and not the pitch of the opponent.”

Jamshedpur FC had a clear gameplan to hurt ATKMB from corners and when asked about his side’s disappointing set-piece defending, Antonio Habas said, “Last season, we conceded one goal from corners and today we conceded two. The problem isn’t with our defensive style, but the ability of the opponent as well. Valskis is a very good player in such scenarios.”

Javi Hernandez was not included in the Mariners’ matchday squad and his presence was missed in the middle of the park. When asked about whether his absence affected the balance of the side, the tactician said, “Yes, maybe. But, I have a lot of confidence in the players who played today. Football is not about excuses. Today, (David) Williams and Hernandez didn’t start because they were injured. No excuses.”

When asked about why Manvir Singh didn’t start after impressing in recent games, Antonio Habas answered, “We have to give opportunities to everyone. Brad (Inman) played well and deserved the start. We had to give opportunities to the others too. Manvir is a very good player for us. I needed to rotate my side because we have three matches in eight days and now in the next eight days, we have another three matches. We have to rotate players all the time in such a season.”

The Mariners tried for a late comeback, but weren’t able to secure a point in the dying minutes. The 63-year-old was asked about whether his team wasn’t prepared for such a scenario and explained, “I feel the war is not finished yet. We are still close to the league leaders. This one match won’t decide our season and whether or not we win the trophy.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQHq1Fyr4uA

Further, he was also questioned about whether he wanted Jamshedpur to push his side further back to create better attacking opportunities. He answered, “That wasn’t the idea, because the opponent just kept playing long balls all the time! The defenders had to defend on the edge of the box.”

“We can’t premeditate having to play with such a defensive line. We have to talk to the players about the possibility of not conceding like that from set-pieces. Today, for the first time, we conceded two goals from corners. It was a big mistake for us, but we need to work harder to solve the issues,” he added. 

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ATKMB have struggled to break down opponents who decide to sit back rather than enjoy more of the possession. When asked about his side’s woes against deep defence lines, Antonio Habas said, “No, that is not correct. It was not possible to counter-attack today because the opponents were constantly playing long balls throughout the game. But, I really don’t understand why people always say that ATK Mohun Bagan play counter-attack all the time. That’s just a fantastic lie.”

When asked about whether zonal marking was a reason behind his side conceding the goals tonight, the coach answered, “No, I don’t really worry about that. As I said, last season we conceded one goal from set-pieces. This season, unfortunately, two in one match. We have to improve our defence, we have to train harder in such situations. We have to also congratulate the opposition for their fantastic set-pieces.”

Meanwhile, Edu Garcia was also disappointed with the loss and credited Jamshedpur’s physicality as a reason for their win. He said, “It isn’t the result that we wanted. But, we knew that they're very strong and have very tall players. They managed two excellent set-pieces and we lost the game because of that. We have to keep working and try to improve from this kind of situation.”

But, the Spaniard shrugged off questions on ATKMB’s playing style, saying, “We know what we have to do. We know our style of football and we know how we can punish the opponents. Sometimes, you can play to the match plan and sometimes, the players aren’t very well and the opponents play well. We try to do that in every game. Sometimes it brings success and sometimes it doesn’t.”