Losing Mulder changed the whole game-Materazzi

The Italian manager acknowledged his side were up against quality opponents...

Chennaiyin FC and Kerala Blasters played out a goalless draw in front of a vocal Marina Arena audience on Saturday night. The win does not alter the position of either team in the Indian Super League standings although the home side have a game in hand to secure a four-point cushion above their fierce rivals Blasters. A pitch invader caused a lot of drama as even Marco Materazzi was embroiled in a scuffle after the final whistle. The Italian manager felt that Kervens Belfort should have opted to hand the ball to Chennaiyin after the men in blue kicked the ball out after an attention-seeking intruder stopped play instead of launching a throw-in with an attacking intent. “For me, nothing happened. I just wanted to talk,” said Materazzi. “He could have avoided what he did. He put the ball in an attacking throw-in. He is a talented young player but, if he does something like that, he will lose all his strength. I did my job when I talked to him; if he wants to be good player, he needs to avoid that kinds of attitude.” With the game being physical, one player from each team was forced to leave the pitch with injuries. Aaron Hughes walked off the pitch with a hamstring injury whilst Hans Mulder could not continue only a few minutes after walking through the tunnel. Khel Now sources said that the Netherlands midfielder would go through a scan on Saturday night to assess his condition. “Losing Mulder changed the whole game,” alleged the World Cup winner. “We had to change our attitude in the second half. Maybe, we suffered more in the second half, but what matters is this one point. We now have nine points after six games while other teams have played seven games already. I hope we get Mulder back for the next game as he is a crucial player for us, but you’ll never hear me complaining about my players if they play like this because they had been fighting. It was a really tough game until the last minute, but let’s now be happy for this one point.” Chennaiyin tried abusing the strength and height of Davide Succi and Dudu Omagbemi with numerous long balls although the results did not come out as desired. The Chennaiyin manager said they game plan was not preplanned as he revealed that it was an on-pitch tweak based off Coppell’s English way of playing football. “It actually happened to happen during the game because they play the English style, so we wanted to exploit the long balls,” revealed Materazzi. “Maybe, we could have exploited [the long balls] better in the last few minutes with Peluso in the team. Every derby is a tough game from the start to finish. I just want to congratulate both teams and also the fans as I think they had fun.” The former Inter Milan defender has been rotating his squad vigorously until the Saturday’s game that saw only Maurizio Peluso make way for Omagbemi. It can be argued the decision was based off a tactical change as the Blues started with only two centre-forwards. Their manager admitted that team selection would be a headache in the next few games, with notable names such as Jeje Lalpekhlua, Jayesh Rane, and John Arne Riise all warming the bench. “Positive thing is that we were fighting for every ball but now, the toughest part is up to me, because I’ve to put the best starting eleven in the next game, and it’s obvious that I can put the same. Nobody can take something [like this game as a measure] because it was a physical game. Now, the tough part is to put the best starting eleven for the next game,” concluded the Chennaiyin coach. Photo © ISL Media