Kibu Vicuna: I want to say sorry to all the supporters of Kerala Blasters

The head coach also stressed on the importance of tactical and emotional upliftment for the team following the unexpected defeat.

In what was yet another occasion of heartbreak for Kerala Blasters fans, the team suffered an embarrassing 2-4 defeat against bottom-placed Odisha FC in the ISL on Thursday. Kibu Vicuna and his men gifted the Juggernauts their first win of the season, as the latter looked like men against boys versus the two-time finalists.

While speaking to the media after the game, Vicuna was apologetic for his team’s amateur display on the pitch. He said sorry to the fans of the Yellow Army and shared his thoughts on what went wrong.

Vicuna’s apology

Before answering the first question, the 48-year-old said sorry to the fans and admitted that they made too many mistakes.

[KH_ADWORDS type="4" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS]

“I want to say sorry to all the supporters of Kerala Blasters. Tonight, we made too many mistakes. This is not the team that we want to see on the pitch. Sorry, sorry everyone,” he said.

What needs to change

Needless to say, the magnitude of this loss has resulted in several questions, the most important among them being the changes that the team can be expected to make. Addressing this, the coach said, “Everything needs to change now.

“We committed too many mistakes, tactically. The team will be feeling bad after this result and hence they also need mental support. The good thing is that we have a game on Sunday and we have to focus on it. We are Kerala Blasters and we need the three points against Jamshedpur FC on Sunday,” he further added.

Reasons behind loss

https://youtu.be/6fo3B5mEHRs

“When a team concedes four goals it is very hard to get points from matches. We should not concede so much,” he said when asked about the reasons behind the defeat.

“We will be analyzing the game and we will try to find out where we have to improve,” he added, before explaining, “We started well and scored an early goal. The match was evenly poised at that point and not much changed with their equalizer. The game changed when they scored the second goal.

“We did not react in suitable fashion and later started the second half poorly. Then they scored again and by the time we started reacting well, the match was already lost.”

How injuries affected the team

Vicuna admitted a few injuries and fitness issues also affected the overall performance of the Kochi outfit. “We had a few fitness issues in our team. Costa (Nhamoinesu) suffered a small injury during our final training yesterday. He was not ready to play,” the former Mohun Bagan tactician said.

He further added, “Bakary (Kone) was also recovering after an injury that he suffered previously. He wasn’t ready to play for the full 90 minutes. We had to play the game with our available players.”

[KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News |ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]

Road ahead for Kerala Blasters

With just a solitary win from nine matches, the Blasters are in tenth place with just six points. A playoffs position is a near-unrealistic aim for the side, but the coach feels that they have to keep going.

“In football, you have to keep going. I believe that this team can play better, for sure. As of now, we have to recover from this loss and focus on the next match. We have to improve everywhere, including tactical and emotional aspects,” Kibu Vicuna concluded.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Twitter, Instagram and join our community on Telegram.