Jamshedpur FC

The Gaffer talks about the outstanding performance showcased by the team against Mumbai City FC, the team’s previous performances in the league, the strong performance given by Farukh and Boris and the team showing their true potential in the game.

Here are the excerpts from the interview:

On the victory against Mumbai City FC

It was a well deserved victory tonight! The lads played well from kick-off to the final whistle and we were the team that fully controlled the game. We scored 2 goals while also creating some wonderful chances and all credits to the players. Unfortunately, in the previous encounter with ATK Mohun Bagan, we never should have lost the game after putting so much effort into it. So we have been playing well and winning games and these 3 points were very important for us to finish the season strong. We have obviously shown remarkable improvement from last season and we have to continue doing the same moving forward.

On whether the team showed their true potential tonight

I think we performed very well tonight and we have shown this on multiple occasions. We were obviously pulled down due to some circumstances like injuries during the season and a few players being unavailable within the last 2 weeks which had us not having all the 5 foreigners available with David Grande and Nick Fitzgerald being injured for almost the whole season which was also a big challenge for us. Obviously we took one game in isolation which was against FC Goa, scoring a goal in the 89th minute which was completely over the goal line. If that would have been given as a goal, then we would have been at least 3 points ahead of FC Goa. So we had big moments and things that went against us but we have picked ourselves up from those. We think eventually things even out and that it will benefit us in the long term but that does not work all the time and that's a perfect example of bad luck that we weren't given that goal which FC Goa benefited from and cost us the game.

On Farukh's performance in the game

Farukh performed outstandingly and so did Jackichand when he was in the club, even though he played in the opposing team tonight. They are both very talented players. Farukh showed tonight that he is a quality player, as did Jackichand and Boris. There's no need to prove their abilities as they all possess great qualities and are outstanding Indian talents. I was delighted by Farukh’s performance and he still has so much potential to work on and the more we work with them, the better they will become as players. There's no doubt about that!

On the team not being fearless in the first half of the league

I disagree with this as in the first half of the league, in the FC Goa game, we would have won it if not for the decision and we were unbeaten for 7 games at that point. Then later, we went on to beat Bengaluru FC and then we had a different form after the break and the 2 weeks off did not help us well as we lost the next 3 games which cost us the play-offs position. If we had picked up any points from those 3 games, we would have definitely been in the playoffs. That just shows how thin the margins are but we have improved from there with another clean sheet against Mumbai City FC with the backline standing strong in the defence. So, we have picked up a lot of positives moving forward and we need to perform the same way against Bengaluru FC in our next game and finish the season as high as we can on the league standings.

On being the underdog team which gave the team a mental advantage

We have punched our way up irrespective of the teams we face in the league. But it is an 11v11 game on the pitch and we step up to every fixture with the approach of winning, but sometimes we go through some levels of inconsistencies. Regardless of that, the players have always given their everything for every game and we have tried to bring quality to every game we play. Boris, who was our latest signing from the transfer window, got subbed on to score his first goal which was outstanding. Even Farukh and Len have performed really well, so that is the type of young players that we will continue to keep adding to our club to bring in more pace and energy to big games.

On Boris’ performance against Mumbai City FC

I was so pleased with this performance. We train together every day and he picked up an injury in our closed door game with SC East Bengal and yet he was so energetic in the game throughout. It was great to have him back to full fitness to perform and then he came in the game to score his first goal and it was amazing. He will only get better moving forward. He is a lovely kid who always walks around with a big smile on his face and I love working with him. As I said before, the more we work with such talents, the better they will become in the future.