Have to shut up and work hard, says KBFC boss Ivan Vukomanovic

His counterpart Owen Coyle lauded the Yellow Army's attacking players.

The Kerala Blasters FC juggernaut will look to remain unscathed amid festivities and continue making merry but in Jamshedpur FC they will face a stern test, to say the least when Ivan Vukomanovic and co meet Owen Coyle's men in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Sunday.

The Boxing Day blockbuster at the Tilak Maidan Stadium will see two sides who are not only in the top four but also in supreme form, riding on some free-scoring attackers and well-oiled defence in the last few matches. Kerala have been unbeaten in six games while Jamshedpur haven’t lost their last two.

Ahead of the clash, both teams' head coaches spoke in the pre-match press conference. Here are the excerpts:

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Ivan Vukomanovic (Kerala Blasters)

https://youtu.be/ixeE0OBCPLQ

KBFC faced Jamshedpur FC twice in the pre-season friendly with one loss and one was a draw. So, will there be any changes in the plan to face them from the last two matches?

Ivan Vukomanovic: Yes, of course. Because it was the period of the pre-season and they are completely different games now, almost in the middle of ISL both teams are playing a bit differently.

Both teams are playing with a different approach and a different mentality. Tomorrow I suppose that it should be a very hard, physical game, tough with lots of runnings and so we'll see tomorrow. Let the better team win.

Sitting comfortably in the top half of the table right now after winning the previous game, as you know, an opportunity is there that if you win the next game tomorrow with a certain goal margin you can actually go to about the top of the table. Is that something that you're looking forward to?

Ivan Vukomanovic: When you start the competition, when you start the season, you aim as far as possible. But you know, there are many circumstances, obstacles and opponents that you will face. So, now in our situation, we are the team who ended up last year, second from bottom. If we compare to last season, we have to shut up and work hard, that's all. And then everything that comes extra to us, it's really welcome.

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In this situation, we just want to continue building up because in football it's about momentum. When you are sitting in good momentum, you have to continue building up. You have to continue working hard and playing game by game and then you will see what will be the outcome. So far we have had a good atmosphere, we have a good team, we have cohesion in our team that gives us confidence.

We have to stay together with the force to continue and try to collect the points, later on, we will sum up when we are closer to the end and we will see what are our objectives are, so we have to stay humble, continue working hard, that's it.

Owen Coyle (Jamshedpur FC)

https://youtu.be/dfa9HpX9Iq8

Two consecutive clean sheets and technically three if you count the ATK Mohun Bagan game as well, your thoughts on being mean at the back?

Owen Coyle: It's always nice when we get the clean sheets. We felt a couple of games earlier, we could have had them and we were giving a sloppy goal away here and there. But it comes down to that focus and concentration and only that again, because we're playing a wonderful team and the in-form team at the moment in the league is Kerala blasters who are doing very well, particularly offensive players. (Jorge) Dias, (Alvaro) Vazquez and (Adrian) Luna with Sahal Samad, are some terrific players.

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We've got to be wary of the threat they've got, give them the utmost respect as we always do. But it's a game that we're looking forward to and if we can keep it tight and keep a clean sheet in the back, it certainly will give us a great platform to go and win a tough game.

Kerala Blasters FC have shown good attacking prowess in the last two matches with two big wins. Who are the two most dangerous players in the squad?

Owen Coyle: They have wonderful foreigners, their offensive players. Vazquez and the strikers played at a very high level, Diaz is a very good player, Luna, very clever, they've all played at a very high level and young Sahal Samad is an offensive player who is pleasing on the eye, quick and can score a goal, can create a goal. They've got dangerous players and they're a dangerous team and that's the thing, it's not about the individuals alone but they work very hard as a team and they will be very dangerous opponents, tough opponents. It's a game that we're looking forward to, giving utmost respect.

We may have one or two injuries but we'll put a team on the field that's going out there all out ready to win the game. And if we were at our very best then it's a game that we can win.

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