KBFC are improving step-by-step in many ways, asserts Ivan Vukomanovic

The Yellow Army now top the ISL standings for the second time this season.

Earlier tonight, Kerala Blasters won their second consecutive game and their fifth overall with a win against Kiko Ramirez's Odisha FC. With this, they now top the ISL standings with 20 points -- just one above Jamshedpur FC, who too have been in red-hot form. For this, all it took was a goal from Nishu Kumar (28') and Harmanjot Khabra (40'), as they shattered a Juggernauts side who've now dropped to eight. As an obvious result of this, KBFC head coach Ivan Vukomanovic was all smiles at the post-match press conference and here are the excerpts from the same:

Versatility of team

Considering both the goals came from full-backs, he was first asked if that showed his side's versatility. Delighted with the same, he began, "Yes, of course. It shows the diversity and the different things we possess in our team. Players with quality, players who can be dangerous from second lines and players that can infiltrate, those who can be dangerous on set-pieces. So, I think we are improving step-by-step in many different ways. As a coaching staff, we're very glad because when you're evolving in such a competition and scoring certain goals, the opponents will be concentrated on your key players and then you've to diversify."

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Ivan Vukomanovic added, "We've to try to mix things up and find other solutions. So, that's what we saw. I'm very happy for Nishu to score such a beautiful goal in his first game after such a long period -- coming back onto the pitch after suffering an injury. Also, with the ISL format, he wasn't playing for a long time. So, I'm happy for him and hope he'll continue building up; becoming even stronger and getting back to the level he deserves, even for the Indian national team.

"From the other side Khabra is very dangerous on set-pieces. So, he too scored a nice goal; something that we were practicing in our training session. Of course, we're happy as a coaching staff and also grateful for the win."

On having calm & composed team

Next up, Ivan Vukomanovic was questioned on his team's composure and attitude on the pitch. In other words, the "happy" manner in which each and every player performed their respective duties.

The 44-year-old responded, "You know what, right since we started, we didn't want to have any kind of pressure on ourselves because I was always saying football is about joy and pleasure. So, enjoy the pitch. If you don't have pleasure playing together or playing football, then something's wrong. Since we started our training program and everything else, we wanted to have that joy and positive energy on the pitch. For, you know, when it's (pressure) starting to build up, it's never easy to build a strong team or unit.

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"But now, when you see these boys enjoying nice football with combinations running and pressing together, especially in a situation where our captain's suffering from surgery, this (attitude) is positive energy for us and we want to keep that going. We are not busy with statistics because we cannot think in that way. We have to think about building further on and building up a good team, with many different things like you've seen in today's game and the previous ones. We're hoping for the best and we hope we continue like this till the end."

On Clean-Sheet

With this win, it's the Yellow Army's second consecutive and fifth clean-sheet overall -- ranking them on top in terms of this number as well, apart from just the regular standings. On this note, the Serbian was asked to share his thoughts and how he felt it was impacting the team.

The coach noted, "Of course, it gives you such confidence and pleasure when you don't concede goals. It means that you're working very hard defensively. It means that the team is compact and does not want to give anything away. So, as a coaching staff, this is one of the most important things -- that you become unbeatable as a team. Also, when you don't concede and create chances in front, there are more moments when you can win the game. So ,with these clean-sheets, we're of course pleased now. We're the only team with five clean-sheets in the league."

Further, elaborating his idea of not being focused too much on such statistics, he stated, "But again, we're not occupied with it. We want to continue many different things -- to develop the team, to develop many players who can perform under different levels and formations. Even in the second half, we wanted to play a little bit more in the lower block trying to reduce the space and be compact. The boys were also pressing high till the end. So, as a coach, it makes you happy. It was a pleasure to watch them playing together; having fun and enjoying the game."

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Competitiveness of ISL

Lastly, Ivan Vukomanovic shared his thoughts on the competition in this edition of the ISL, where a new leader is being crowned each day on the standings.

Sharing his takeaways from such unpredictability and competitiveness, he expressed, "Well, it's good for the league. But, let me repeat something that we've said a long time ago. We as a team are coming from far away and if you see the statistics from the previous season, we've to build up step-by-step. In football, nothing can happen overnight. Let me repeat, we have to stay humble, focused and concentrated because if you see from where we are coming -- second from bottom last season, we must never announce big runs. We want to compete. The league is good, it's tough and many teams want to compete to be at the top of the table. Hence, we've to continue game-by-game and see what the future brings for us."

Concluding the press conference, he opined, "Now, we're happy with the results. If we compare to our last season wherein we ended with 17 points at the end of the season, we have 20 points already now. We have to continue (for) nothing's done and we still have nine more games to go. We just hope that everything will be alright with our health -- that there will be no more cases of COVID and that everyone's ready for the game. Let's just hope for that and the best."

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