We were lucky to only lose 3-1: Materazzi

The Italian has promised his team will bounced back after a humiliating home defeat against Delhi Dynamos…

Chennaiyin suffered a home loss to Delhi Dynamos on Thursday night, but coach Marco Materazzi has promised to bounce back on October 13, against last season’s finalists Goa. Speaking to the press after the humiliating loss, he congratulated Dynamos for their deserved win and accepted the blame for their second average game in quick succession. He appears to be eager to see his lads emulate the last season’s pattern – they had an uninspiring start to the campaign before ultimately dethroning Atletico de Kolkata. “We didn’t play well and I want to congratulate Delhi, because they deserved to win,” admitted the manager. “It’s my responsibility now to prove we can bounce back. It’s also the responsibility of the players but mostly mine and we need to show that we can fight back.” Nallapan Mohanraj again had a game to forget as Marcelinho ran rings around him. However, the Chennaiyin manager denied blaming his left-back, stating he only needed more game time to mesh with the squad. With substitute Jerry Lalrinzuala performing much better than the Tamil Nadu-born defender did, he might demote the local hero to the bench, though. “Yes, maybe [Nallapan] Mohanraj needs a little more time to gel with the team, but, we can’t blame a single player because when we win, we win together and when we lose, we lose together,” said the manager. The visitors outclassed the Super Machans in every position, and the 43-year-old coach believes their poor run of form is down to their lack of hunger and inability to string passes together. He lauded Dynamos’ desire as he zeroed in on their capability to retain possession to substantiate his claim. “I think that we didn’t have the through-passes and hunger,” admitted the Indian Super League-winning coach. “There was a lack of hunger from the whole team and you could see that because we were losing 3-1 and still Delhi had more possession for three-or-four minutes. Four days ago, we were a good team in my point of view but, today, I think it could have been worse than this,” he stated. Chennaiyin struggled to deal with the pace of Kean Lewis, Richard Gadze, and Marcelinho, with Mehrajuddin Wadoo and the Chennaiyin left back often forced to catch their breath after seeing the pacy Dynamos attackers sprint past them. The Chennaiyin manager appeared to admit that his side have stalled, stating the number of mistakes they currently make should fall steeply for them to avoid such heavy defeats. “For me there was a lack of pace in the whole team and since the entire level of the league has raised every mistake you make, you pay,” conjectured the Italian. “We made six-eight very bad mistakes, so actually we were lucky that the score was only 3-1.” John Arne Riise, despite showing flashes of brilliance, had a night to forget, but his coach believes his team will perform better in the event of his personnel operating as a unit. He heaped praise on the opposition in light of their first win but seemed to believe that their win was down to his side having a bad game. “Yes (Riise was caught out), I think the whole defense was suffering because the whole team was stretched. We weren’t playing together. I think the first 10 minutes we played were very good, but then when it was 1-1. We had to be more intelligent. We tried for an opportunity to score another goal, but that was no good for us, because in that moment they made it 2-1. From that moment on, it all went down, so I want to congratulate Delhi once again for the win, but it was also because of many mistakes from our side,” he concluded.