I am proud of the team, says Manolo Marquez after draw against Mumbai

The Hyderabad FC head coach also revealed that most important thing for him is the supporters being proud of the players.

Mumbai City FC and Hyderabad FC played out a goalless draw in the Indian Super League at the GMC Stadium in Goa. Both teams failed to break the deadlock and had to settle for a share of the spoils. The Nizams' head coach Manolo Marquez spoke to the media following the game.

With the result, Mumbai City are now six points clear of ATK Mohun Bagan at the top of the table with 26 points, while Hyderabad are in fourth position with 16 points.

Thoughts on draw

Marquez gave his thoughts on the result and said, “I am very satisfied with the team. I know we had more clear chances in the game, but they have a very good team and it was an interesting game.”

The gameplan

The Spanish head coach disclosed that the plan was not to concede goals and then take chances on the counter-attack. “Yes, our plan was not to concede and after the game, I joked with (Ahmed) Jahouh about this.

"We put practically one player with him because his long balls in the first game (against Mumbai City) damaged our team, but my players understood the aim of the game.”

On Chianese’s missed chance

Joel Chianese missed a golden chance to score for the visitors in the later stages of first half and speaking on the  same the Spaniard quoted, “Yes, I remember two (occasions) one of Joel and other of Liston (Colaco), but that is football.

"Our chances were very clear, but more or less the game was very even. I am satisfied and proud of the team. For us, the most important thing is our supporters are proud of these players.”

On Halicharan Narzary   

Halicharan Narzary has had a very good season for the Nizams so far. However, he was brought on very late into the game. Speaking on his late inclusion, the former Las Palmas coach commented, “We play again on Tuesday against Odisha and it is impossible to play with same players.

"We substituted Aridane (Santana) and (Sahil) Tavora played his first game. Other players like Roland Alberg played his first game. If we want to arrive in the competition we need to play with more players.”

Approaching to next game

Chennaiyin FC and FC Goa are also in and around Hyderabad in the points table. Asked whether they would go all out in the next couple of games Manolo Marquez replied, “Now ,we’ve played 11 games and on Tuesday we play our 12th game against Odisha.”

He further went on and explained, “Our goal right now is a game against Odisha. We never looked at the points table whether we are in top three, top four or top eleven because in this strange situation, you lose players due to so many games in short time.”

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