Football
ISL: "Defensive stability can bring you at least one point," says Kerala Blasters Coach
Though Kerala keeps looking for their first victory, Ivan Vukomanovic kept a positive outlook towards the draw against NorthEast
Indian Super League 2020-21 had seen its first goalless draw between Kerala Blasters and NorthEast United. Both teams had some huge chances that they failed to capitalize on. Even though Kerala keeps looking for their first victory of this campaign, Ivan Vukomanovic kept a positive outlook towards the result.
Improvement from the last game
Although a goalless draw might not have been Vukomanovic's desired comeback from the 4-2 loss against ATKMB last Friday. But he didn't hesitate to show his appreciation for the team's effort against North East.
Ivan believes, "We have to be honest, on any professional level all around the world there will be mistakes on technical levels on the pitch. The players, especially the young boys they eventually learn what their mistakes are and later on not to repeat them"
He further said, "We will just try to work hard to avoid those things and to improve not to repeat them. I am happy with all of them tonight I am fully confident about the boys, they are working so hard and we will continue building up, we have our objectives and I am very happy about them."
Foreign defenders provided added stability
Kerala's opening match against ATK Mohun Bagan was a night to forget for the Kerala defenders as they had conceded four goals to the Roy Krishna-led Bagan attack. Thus the inclusion of Enes Sipovic, in the center of the defense stabilized the Kerala side quite a lot. The coach was quick to acknowledge how impressive the Sipovic- Leskovic duo have been against NorthEast United.
He started by saying, "Since we started our pre-season these two central defenders ( Sipovic and Leskovic) have played together for ninety minutes so this makes me happy, it can bring stability to the whole team".
When you have defensive stability which is strong and not allowing many things to the offensive opponent players, these things can bring you at least one point like tonight," Ivan further added.
The Tactician also pointed out, "We had good chances where we should have scored in first and second halves but anyway these players like I said they work hard and they wanted to score so I can't say anything"
The missing nightmare continues
Once again the blasters got some really big chances that they failed to convert. In the first half Pereyra Diaz was one on one against the North East keeper Shubhasish Roy Chowdhury but failed to keep the shot on target, the same thing happen to Sahal on the opening of the second half,
When he was asked if the Kerala fans will continue to suffer for their team's lack of attacking discipline, he was pretty quick to point out how he envisions the Keralan attack to be in near future,
"I am a coach who likes attacking football. I like to attack and I like to create offensive chances, tonight the players who missed those chances, they had quality and I want to see them score more. If you speak about sahal or any other player, I want to see them scoring more goals during this season. That's our objective, I want to see them improving and becoming better because I also want them to be an important part of the Indian national team too. This is what we will continue to do we will build up."
Vincy Barreto - one for the future
Today the young Goan made his debut for the Blasters and he was a glimpse of hope for Kerala's otherwise static right half. The Goan paired well with Kerala's Marquee midfielder Adrian Luna and his sudden blast of speed made the North Eastern defenders uneasy, to say the least.
The coach was with all praise for the 21 years old winger. Quizzed about his take on the young lad's debut performance Ivan told, "Vincy is one of the many who had a very good progression mark and this boy has to work very hard to improve even more."
"He is very quick, he is very difficult to defend, and tonight I think our opponents had trouble with him. I think that he has quality. I am fully confident in all of them," said the tactician as he explained Vincy's qualities.