ATK Mohun Bagan’s Juan Ferrando: Happy with the team’s character, but not with footballing details

ATK Mohun Bagan are now level on points with league leaders Hyderabad FC after grabbing a convincing 2-0 victory over FC Goa at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, Goa. This result extends their unbeaten run to 11 matches in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL).

ATKMB head coach Juan Ferrando had mixed feelings after his side’s win. He was happy with the character of his team but disappointed with the performance. A brace by Manvir Singh proved to be the difference between the two teams.

Juan Ferrando addressed the media after the game.

Here are some excerpts from his press conference:

Do you think this was a game where you had total control or were there patches where FC Goa looked like the better team?

No, of course, I’m not thinking about FC Goa. I’m thinking about my team. We had more opportunities I think, but to be honest in the build-up, in the timing of press, today was not good. This is the truth. I understand the players are very tired. Today was a difficult game for them because after 45 hours to play it’s very difficult. They had personality and I’m very happy with the character of the team but I am upset about some details in the football

How good is it to go level with Hyderabad on top of the table?

Yes, but now I’m thinking about the next game. It’s very difficult in every game for me because every opponent has good squads and the second detail is the situation. After three days, it’s very difficult to play. Our focus is thinking about Kerala now and not thinking about where we are on the table because maybe after two-three days you are in the third position or you’re in the fourth position and so, I think it’s necessary to put focus on the next game.

How well does it feel to see Manvir Singh and Liston Colaco play well? Are they India’s best attacking players at the moment?

At the moment I think I’m happy but they need to improve a lot. Maybe the Indian people are happy with their performance but they need to improve more because in the case of Liston Colaco, he’s very young he needs to learn about a lot of things in football.

You change the system a bit by bringing Sandesh Jhingan in. Is this going to be your preferred system going forward?

The system for me is not important because we started the system with 352 because we wanted to work in build-up. We had no success and changed to 4231 with the right back and left back inside. We had no success and in the end, we played 442 to try and improve in the build-up, and in the end, also changed some details of the high press because the high press was terrible today.