"We deserved to lose": Ashley Westwood speaks after 4-1 loss against NorthEast United FC

Momo Yansane scored the compensatory goal for the Blasters

Kerala Blasters FC succumbed to a 4-1 loss against NorthEast United FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in their second game of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2026-27 season on the 18th October.

Alaaeddine Ajaraie registered a brace, and two goals from Aman CK and Antonio Moyano restricted Blasters from their second victory. Momo Yansané found the back of the net for the Blasters in the second half, but that was too faint for the visitors to overcome the comfortable lead held by the Highlanders.

Following the loss, Kerala Blasters FC head coach Ashley Westwood addressed the media. Here is a detailed report of the post-match press conference of the match between NorthEast United FC and Kerala Blasters FC.

“We didn’t deserve to win”

When asked about the thoughts on the game, Kerala Blasters FC head coach stated that the team deserved to lose, given the first-half performance. While he appreciated the reaction after trailing 2-1, he stood firm with his words that the loss was well-deserved.

“I think that’s just where we are in our season. Obviously, assembled late, there’s no excuses. We lost. We deserved to lose on the first half’s performance. We had a nice reaction after half-time. We scored the goal to make it 2-1. If we could have got another goal with the chances we created, it would have ended differently. We didn’t deserve to win, but at least we showed some reaction.”

“We’re getting better with our fitness”

Adding up to the above statement, Ashley highlighted the importance of pre-season friendlies, which would help the team to try out different combinations and find the best one. He also mentioned that despite all these shortcomings, these were not excuses and the team will get back stronger.

“Coming from a low state of fitness, we’ve got to learn about the players. We’ve got loads of new players. We’ve obviously not practised to find out about the new players. Every game, every training session, certainly in defeats, you learn more and more about your team. You learn more and more about who you need to change or swap or give other chances to other people.”

“That’s the reason you have pre-season. That’s the reason you have pre-season friendlies, to learn. You can’t expect to bring five new foreigners. That’s including Luna for me. I don’t know, eight, nine new Indians and expect to click your fingers and start straight away. I’ll learn, we’ll get it right, we’ll watch, we’ll analyse, and we’ll improve again from next week.”

“We’re getting better with our fitness. Lads are lasting 90 minutes, not getting cramps. We’re making different substitutions to try different combinations and solutions and see who’s suited for where. Like I say, this is football. You can’t win every game.”

“One loss is not going to change our season”

Speaking on the upcoming games, Ashley highlighted that the team is building and needs to work harder to potentially earn 7 or more points out of their first four games.

“We’ve got two more games before we have a little bit of a rest so we can do a bit of catch-up fitness-wise. If we go on to win a game and draw, for example, then you’d have to look at that and go eight points from a possible 12 or seven points, whatever it may be. It would be a good return considering what we’ve done. All we’ve got to do is stay in touch. One loss is not going to change our season. We build on it. We don’t be too down. We just work and work harder.”

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