Coppell says the Delhi light-weight players went to ground too easily; Zambrotta: Home is our advantage and will make it count

DELHI LOST THE FIRST LEG away from home and will plan to capitalise on the home advantage and take the game to Kerala. Speaking to the media post the match, Zambrotta on the loss said,

“We know that the problem is not the midfield. We made a lot of mistakes and I think maybe this was the main problem. We had a lot of space to utilise but we could not utilise this space, and we knew this was going to be a difficult match and now we have a match in Delhi and we hope to do better,” 

The Italian continued saying,

“I don’t think that the team had a specific problem and we have done well in the league, and maybe in the last two matches we have not done well, and I think today we had a bad game and for sure we can do better in Delhi.”

Delhi could not add anything to the scoresheet as Belfort scored the only goal of the game. Coppell delighted over the marginal edge over Delhi going into the second leg. Speaking to the reporters after the game, Coppell said,

“I am very pleased that we created opportunities and going forward it gives us optimism and Delhi are a good side and for us just to get our noses in front was important and another goal would have been great but we have got our noses in front and we are pleased to be going there, and it is a shame that the second leg isn’t here but we have talked about that before.”

Zambrotta conceded defeat but feels confident of doing well about the next leg. He said about the the next challenge,

“When we play at home, it is an advantage for us. To play in front of our fans is an advantage, and we are fortunate to have the second match at home and it is a good opportunity for us and I hope we are able to utilise this opportunity. I am sure we will get better in the next match. I think Kerala is a very good team and they play like they know and today they played just on the counter and they scored from a counter-attack and they are a very good team,”

Zambrotta continued,

“I think tonight we lost 1-0 but we have to think about the next match and we have to recover and change our focus and just try to get better.”

Explaining his decision to withdraw Josu early in the first half, Coppell said,

“I just made a judgement call really, as he had been booked and there was friction between him, the referee and Marcelinho. I felt a little bit aggrieved as Mehtab  makes one challenge and gets a yellow card and Josu made a couple of challenges and I could not believe that the linesman gave the decision their way and one in particular I thought was 100% a foul against us and then the next minute Josu gets upset and there is a booking. I am thinking an hour against Marcelinho, there is going to be more conflict and confrontation and it is not a good idea to play against anyone with ten men, so I made the decision and Boris, I thought he did terrifically well and he did a very difficult role very well.”

 There were appeals by Delhi players for penalties in the game and to the Coppell strongly said,

"It happens and there is no point complaining about the referee and you just have got to get on with it. I must admit I wasn’t happy with some decisions and sometimes in football decisions go in your favour and sometimes they go against you and maybe in Delhi, they go for us. I think a couple of decisions in the second half, the referee was stronger then and he got better as the game went down and Delhi you know have got a couple of light-weight players and if you touch them they tend to fall down, so I think the referee made a couple of good strong decisions then, when they were crying out for penalties,”

Asked about the gameplan going to Delhi in the second leg Coppell replied,

“I honestly don’t know and we will just go out and play and I don’t think you can set out and decide that we will defend or counter-attack and the game has an ebb and flow to it but at home knowing that they have to score goals and beat us, so they might have more urgency in their play and we might be pressurised a little bit more and there is no way we will go there thinking we are 1-0 ahead. We will defend it but we will just go there and play and see what happens.”

Kerala hit Delhi multiple times on counter attacks and managed to score the only goal of game also through a counter. If the team would continue with the same mindset, Coppell said,

“I don’t know and we have to find out till everyone recovers and that would be a big part of the decision-making process and we have to travel tomorrow and we have only one day to prepare for the game on Wednesday, so we will wait till tomorrow and see how the players are and if anyone has any injuries and then we will pick the team on Tuesday.”

Second and deciding leg of the semi-final is on Wednesday, December 14 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi

Get the latest in the world of Sports, Teams, and Players! Free Delivery to your Inbox.