ISL 2017-18: Coppell chose not to comment on referee's decisions; said his team deserved points

JAMSHEDPUR FC suffered a loss yesterday at the JLN stadium in Goa. Trailing by a goal at half time, Jamshedpur FC staged a comeback when they got themselves level but could not repeat the feat for a second time after FC Goa had taken the lead.

Coppell present at the post-match conference yesterday shared his thoughts saying,

“Overall I thought we deserved the points. In the first half an hour, we stopped them from doing what they do and we had a couple of opportunities. I thought it would’ve been good if we would have taken advantage then. They’re a good side but I look at my team. If we play with the same desire and will to win, we’ll be alright,” he said.

FC Goa took the lead for the first time from a controverstial penalty and the second goal for the home team looked a bit offside. Coppell chose to not delve into complaints about the referee and said, 

“In quite a few ISL games, you have a few players diving around, a few players waving imaginary yellow cards. I mean, is that the way forward? Obviously, the real pressure point moment was when the penalty was given, I think things were said which incited the problem. I said at halftime, concentrate on the football. I think my team did that.”

He further continued,

“I hate complaining about referees. When we have two sides so closely matched like tonight, you want the difference to be a beautiful piece of football. You don’t want it to be a mistake and you don’t want it to be a refereeing decision. When the referee gave the penalty, I thought he may have jostled him. I just saw that on the TV and Andre Bikey clearly got the ball. We go in at half-time 1-0 down. The second goal was a good piece of finishing but could have been a tad offside. I feel hard done by because we played a good game. But you know we have to get ourselves ready for the next one.”

Coppell did not take the loss to his heart and said the team will improve with performance like those,

“We’ve obviously got to improve,” Coppell explained. “Our last five games were against the top five teams. The most important thing in the ISL is scheduling, as I said from the first day. Now we’re in a period of three weeks where we have six games. I think it’ll be fair to say that after those six games, we’ll definitely know where we’re at. It’s a great challenge for us.”

On not being unable to have kept a clean sheet, Coppell shared,

“I knew we wouldn’t go throughout the season with clean sheets every week. But do I want to stay on the back foot for 18 games? No. We want to be on the front foot so that leaves more spaces at the back. So, say we conceded two goals but I say we conceded one goal. The score might say otherwise,” he said.

Coppell praised Lanzarote from FC Goa for his two goals that won them the game, 

“(He is a) terrific player! You look at his record, his goals today. Both the teams got some quality players. Coro (Ferran Corominas), (Ahmed) Jahouh and the triangle in midfield, which a lot of teams will try to negate. Super finish (for the second goal)! You can’t question his ability,” he concluded.

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