FC GOA host Jamshedpur FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on Thursday. The highest scoring team so far in ISL will have a tough test at their hands when they face one of the toughest defences to break in the ISL.
In the pre-match press conference, Goa’s head coach Sergio Lobera asked about the drop in form off lately and he replied,
“Yeah it is true that we haven’t done well in the last three games but there are certain reasons why,” he began.
“In this league, the small details make all the difference. Against Pune, if we had taken the lead the result would have been completely different. When the score was 0-0, there was an opportunity where we should have taken the lead. In the second game against Kolkata, there was an opportunity for a penalty that wasn’t given. Again if we had put ourselves in the lead, I don’t think we would have had just one point from that game. And the last game, we weren’t at our best. We have to learn from our mistakes and be at our best in every game and tomorrow if we win we will be back with the teams at the top.”
Speaking on the recent opponents in the matches gone by Lobera,
“Pune, NorthEast didn’t play differently to what they usually play, against us. But again tomorrow we play against a team that have kept five clean sheets so we have to prepare. From the next set of games, we have five games at home which will show us whether we’re a team capable of competing in the semi-finals. I have a lot of faith in my players, I have a lot of faith in the fans and all the people back home watching.”
On rotation of players, the Spaniard said, it was required to cope with the fixtures and travel. He went on to say,
“The obvious reason (for the changes) being that we played two matches in four days. The first match we played in some adverse and uncertain circumstances. In the second game obviously, we had to rest some players. I put my players above the result ultimately. We always looked for three points in both games, that was the best option. Based on the first match, we had to make changes,”
Lobera denied being under pressure after returning home from some away games
“We don’t have any pressure. We are a team that has a lot of excitement. We’re coming from a very difficult season last year. I think we’ve recovered the confidence and faith of the supporters with the style of play and results. For me as a coach, we have to be in the top with a point of view of excitement and not pressure,” he concluded