Chennaiyin FC’s Syed Sabir Pasha: We gave away silly goals

Chennaiyin FC suffered a huge 1-4 loss at the hands of Jamshedpur FC, in Match 96 of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2021-22 season at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco, Goa. This heavy defeat means that the team won’t be able to grab the semi-final spot considering the points total they have at the moment.

The Marina Machans head coach Syed Sabir Pasha was disappointed with his side’s performance and is looking forward to pushing Indian players into the limelight in their remaining two games.

Three first-half goals by Ritwik Das, Boris Singh, and Daniel Chukwu gave the Men of Steel a comfortable lead. An early second-half own goal by Deepak Devendra put the game to bed. Nerijus Valskis scored a goal for the Marina Machans but it was too little too late for CFC.

Head Coach Syed Sabir Pasha addressed the media after the game.

Here are the excerpts from his press conference:

Do you think the result is a fair reflection of the game?

Oh, I don’t think so. We gave away silly goals and were not marking which shows the lack of discipline after so much work. I think we have to be disciplined in set-pieces. And we were very strong with that in the practice sessions but somehow, we lost that. I don’t want to comment on individuals as it’s a collective game, but that lack of awareness is causing us harm from the first game or the other games where we started losing. I think that awareness has to come, we are not the bad side and we have to be stronger in that approach.

Do you think the players lacked that extra bit of intensity knowing that the season is over for you?

See, I think we have been motivating them and they have to play for their pride, and they are professionals. So being a professional, you can’t just let your match go like this. Like as they played in the second half, they showed the character they were on them once the game was out. See, it’s not that you have to concede four goals and come out like that. If they can play like that from the start, I think they can easily win. It’s not a bad side. It can match the top teams.

Was Valskis’ goal against his former team and coach the only bright spot of the game today?

Yeah, like the bright spot, are the challenges like 50-50 challenges there, which were made, that we didn’t see in the first half. I think we have to start doing that, we have to be competitive, we have to show that we are competitive, once we show that, it is the reflection of that goal. Like once you start playing the duels, once you start putting your legs into the 50-50 challenges. I think it shows competitiveness and that is where you where the goal was reflected.

You have two tough final games. Would you like to give more players a chance in the team?

Yeah, naturally. The boys are showing it and we will try to put more Indian players into the focus. So this is a chance where they can go in and show what they can do for us in the next year. I think that is the right platform for them and we hope that we can do that.