Owen Coyle claims Laldinliana Renthlei is the best right-back in ISL

The Jamshedpur FC boss also praised other Indian players such as Farukh Chowdhary and Mobashir Rahman.

Jamshedpur FC registered a narrow 1-0 win over Odisha FC in the Indian Super League on Monday. The win helped the Men of Steel to finally break their five-game winless run, while also registering their first win in 2021. Following the game, Jamshedpur head coach Owen Coyle spoke in the post-match press conference.

Importance of win

Since their win over Bengaluru FC on December 28, Jamshedpur FC went on a five-game winless streak, which held them back in the playoffs race. However, with the three points on Monday night, the Men of Steel have now returned to winning ways against Odisha FC. Reflecting on the tough phase, Owen Coyle opined that his men were not always the better unit in the last few days.

"It was frustrating because we have not played badly. I think we were outstanding till the New Year and then a two-week break, which did not help us incidentally," the tactician began.

"When we came back out of the games we have played like against Kerala, we could have easily won that game. Even against NorthEast, we could have taken something from the game. We had to stop losing games which we did with two draws and clean-sheets.

"It gave us the platform to move forward and that's what we did. We scored the goal through (Nerijus) Valskis and then created many chances," he continued.

"One thing I will always accept is that Odisha FC are a dangerous team. But, it was a fair three points and it puts us back into the fight," the Scotsman opined.

On making important tweaks

Jamshedpur FC were struggling to keep clean-sheets at the beginning of the New Year and were giving away cheap goals. Owen Coyle highlighted how he had to make tweaks to bring the team back into their own.

"I had to look into things and also changed a few things because we could not be conceding goals as we did. That being said, we had 1-2 injuries like (Laldinliana Renthlei) Dinliana was a huge miss for us and he actually had to come off tonight as well," he asserted.

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"So, I have to look at that. But, he is an outstanding player. I see a lot of players getting praised in the league. But, for me, I don't think there is a better right-back in the league than Dinliana. He has been outstanding, I had him last year as well. It is important to get those clean-sheets, as it then allows us to go and win games like we did tonight," he opined.

Thoughts on controversial goal

There was a moment of controversy in the game as Mobashir Rahman was credited with the solitary, goal but Valskis claimed that he got the final touch. Speaking about it, the Jamshedpur FC boss said, "I don't know who the goal was credited to, but it was Valskis' goal.

"He got the final touch, all the boys who were close in like Farukh clearly heard the touch. So, it was Valskis' goal. He was once again outstanding tonight and it gets him up and running again."

Role of Indian players

The 54-year-old was delighted with the performances of the domestic players, as they put in an amazing shift and helped the team get back to winning ways.

"Mobashir (Rahman) is a fantastic Indian talent and he is only going to get better. There are areas of his game he needs to improve. I spoke to him after the game that he can improve on areas and I think he definitely will. He works very hard every day in training," Owen Coyle revealed.

"We have a number of players like that. I thought (Seiminlen) Doungel was outstanding tonight, Farukh (Choudhary) could have scored 3-4 goals. So, the best thing about them is that they have brought in freshness and quality. It has certainly helped us and long may that continue," he added.

Playoffs Race

The Jamshedpur FC head coach pointed out the importance of winning matches and keeping the pressure on the other teams who are in playoffs contention. However, he feels that the teams ahead have a slight advantage.

"That is why it was so important for us to win tonight to keep the pressure on. The other teams who are ahead of us are the ones with the advantage and they are the ones who have the points in the bag. All we can do is try and continue to win games, keep the momentum building and try and make sure that we get something to say about it," he concluded.

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