Antonio Habas: We have to play at our best against Chennaiyin FC

The ATK head coach also feels his side do not hold a psychological advantage against the Marina Machans.

ATK will be intent on maintaining their winning momentum in their last home game of the league stages against Chennaiyin FC on Sunday. The Kolkata giants have an admirable record at home, but need to grind out a win against fellow top four hopefuls in order to regain their place at the top of the ISL table. Ahead of the game, ATK head coach Antonio Habas interacted with the media in the pre-match press conference on Saturday.

Antonio Habas asked his side to maintain their momentum, as the season has reached it’s business end, also urging fans to fill the stadium to witness the spectacle. “At the moment the performance level is absolutely at its peak for us. But, we have to keep on playing that way. Tomorrow it’ll be a good match, as Chennaiiyn and ATK both play very good football. Our target is to keep on winning the next match every day,” the tactician began.

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“It’s a fantastic scenario for Indian football. It’s a big stadium, two good clubs and I want to invite the fans to see the match in this stadium. It’s very important for us to play with more number of fans backing us here. My idea is that tomorrow there is a good scope for us to play good football," Antonio Habas added.

The Spaniard also explained how he loves having the headache of alternating between Edu Garcia and David Williams, both quality players. “I prefer to have this problem. The problem is when I don’t have good players. But, for me, right now it’s perfect. The possibility of having to play Edu and Williams alternatively is the best thing for a coach. So, I love having this possibility,” he suggested.

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Antonio Habas refused to concede whether his side hold any psychological advantage from winning the reverse fixture against the Marina Machans earlier this season. “After three months, the team has changed and Chennaiyin has changed their coach, which has helped them. We must maintain our level of concentration to win. I think ATK has maintained a higher level of football over the time which has helped us,” he quipped.

The 62-year-old also praised how everyone at ATK has aided their cause to result in their success this season. He explained, “I think that football is a mix of everything. I think we have good professionals this year inside and outside the pitch as well. It’s very important for the players to be professionals.”

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“When we have more professional individuals, you have less injuries, fewer problems and more chances to win against difficult teams. I think ATK has a team filled with very good professionals. The technical staff, assistant, goalkeeping coach has been doing their best alongside the players in creating whatever we’ve done this season,” he added.

Antonio Habas suggested that he’ll decide the gameplan to stop Chennaiyin’s explosive attack according to the scenario and that their last goalless draw against Bengaluru FC won’t impact his tactics tomorrow. “All the matches are different matches. The opponents are different and the situations are different. We must make the decision on what is the best gameplan for us," he quipped.

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"Sometimes we need to attack more, defend more and focus on countering and all the other things. It’ll be considering what the situation demands for. We have to play at our best because we have to get the first place at the end of the league stages,” he concluded.

Team News

Agus Garcia has returned back to Spain for personal reasons and won’t be available for the game. Carl McHugh remains the only injured player, as ATK have a big squad to pick for Sunday evening.

Head-To-Head

ATK boast a good record against the Marina Machans, winning six out of their 13 meetings across the six seasons. They’ve only lost three games, while the remaining four have been stalemates.

Predicted XI

Arindam, Prabir, Kotal, Mongil, Rathi, Soosairaj, Sosa, Rane, Javi, Williams, Krishna.

Broadcast

The game will be played at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Sunday. It will be broadcast live on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2 HD. It will also be available to stream on Hotstar and Jio TV.