Juan Ferrando: I hope we are more motivated in front of the fans and that they can help us

The Spaniard cites the fear of missing chances as the biggest reason for their lack of goals.

ATK Mohun Bagan salvaged a decent result in the first leg of their Indian Super League (ISL) playoffs against Hyderabad FC – playing out a 0-0 draw. The Mariners came close to scoring through Manvir Singh and Pritam Kotal but had to be content with taking a draw back home to Kolkata – where the second leg will take place.

Ferrando’s thoughts on the result

Juan Ferrando was disappointed with the overall result but believed it was a pretty competitive game between the two teams. He said after the game: “We are disappointed about the result because we came here to win the match, but it’s difficult. They have a good squad of players and this is why they finished second in the league stages and why they’re the defending champions of the ISL playoffs.

“We’re disappointed, but we played against the second-best team in ISL and it’s necessary to prepare for the next match on Monday. We only have two days for that, so we must think about ourselves and prepare for the match. Hyderabad is a very good team and it’s very difficult to create chances against them. It’s normal for them to be successful after working well together for three years,” he added.

Can missed chances come back to haunt ATKMB?

When asked if he feels his side’s missed chances could come back to haunt them in the second leg, the Spaniard quipped: “I think in the first half, it was more or less that Hyderabad had two clear chances and we only had three. In the second half, we had three chances maybe –

so it was a balanced game with both teams in the same way. This is the same case as has been happening all season long for us. We create two-three opportunities, but in the end, we have no success in front of the goalkeeper.”

Plan for the second leg and advantage of home support

Ferrando was straightforward in insisting that his side will not change their plans or resort to defensive football in the second leg. He stated: “I never change our plan. We always try to progress in the build-up, keep the ball and find the attacking spaces.

We always want to attack, never play defensive football. If the opponent is in a better tactical position, we normally have to work more in defence. But we always plan to change some details, but never change our mentality or our style of football.”

When asked if he feels it’ll be an advantage for the Mariners to play the second leg at home in front of their fans, the Spanish gaffer claimed: “We’ll see, but at the end, it’s a game of 90 minutes.

It’ll be our third game in like 7 days. It’s important for the players to recover well. I hope we are more motivated in front of the fans and that they can help us. I think we must focus on our tactical details, but yes the supporters can help us in difficult moments.”

Ferrando tips the second leg to be like a final

With the lack of any away goal rule from this season, Ferrando believes the second leg will be like a final for both teams. He explained: “I think the next match is like a final. If it finishes 0-0 in normal time, we’ll have extra time. I will play attacking football and win the next match the next game.

I don’t know about the other coach, but we try to win it. Everyone wants to play in the final in Goa, so the mentality for both teams should be to attack and try to win the match and not wait about minute by minute. That much is probably clear.”

The reason behind both playoffs being so closely fought

The ATKMB coach also believes the reason behind both playoff games being so closely-fought so far indicates how close all four teams are to each other’s quality in the ISL, as he said: “I think, in my point of view, the matches against Mumbai are different. Mumbai was superb in the first 20 minutes after Bengaluru, but after that both teams were balanced. The matches are 0-0. 1-0 now because this is a reason why one team is first and others are second, third, or fourth.

“After 20 matches, these teams are in the top-4 because they are the best teams and more or less they have the same competition within them. Of course, Mumbai and Hyderabad are one step ahead, because of their point advantage, but this is why these games are so balanced,” he further stated.

Why isn’t ATKMB’s attack firing on all cylinders?

When further questioned on what he thinks isn’t clicking in ATKMB’s frontline for them to keep missing chances in important situations, Ferrando explained: “This season, the problem is we lack confidence in the attack. We create a lot of chances in a lot of matches, but we have not been convincing in the final third. That part of the psychological part is important. When you have good feedback and are positive, maybe you are more confident and you can make the score line into 2-0, 3-0 easily.

“But we have had difficulties this season, we haven’t had confidence, the players missed a lot of chances and they are under intense stress because of the fear of missing chances. But this is a part of football and it’s necessary to accept this. We’ll see what happens. We’ve been unlucky, but maybe next season these players get two chances and score two goals,” he added.

Ferrando’s message for the fans

Finally, Juan Ferrando also sounded confident that a lot of fans will turn up at the Salt Lake Stadium to watch the second leg and sent a message to them, saying: “I know our fans, they will be in the stadium 100%.

Our supporters are amazing people, they want to support the team all the time and be close to the team. I know that on Monday, the stadium will be full and they’ll come to support us – because they want us to reach the final!”