Antonio Habas’ side ATK Mohun Bagan FC notched a victory in the ISL season opener against Kerala Blasters FC. To start off the season registering a win is what the former champions would have looked for to kick-off the season perfectly.
One of Habas’ key players, Michael Soosairaj, met with what looks to be like a knee injury this early on in the season during the match during a duel against Prasanth. Habas said,
“We’ll have to wait to know what exactly is Soosairaj’s condition, and it is definitely not a good feeling to have him injured at the moment. I think the referee should have called it a foul then and there whereas he asked the players to carry on with the match which could now probably have cost Soosai his knee. Anyway, we will support Soosairaj and help him recover immediately.”
On asking why Williams did not play along with Krishna, Habas said,
“It is hard for players to play throughout the 90 minutes considering the humidity that is there in Goa’s climate. That is why we kept Williams as a substitute for Roy Krishna and both of them played well.
“It is very difficult to compete after this 8 months gap. Above all that, the team put forth a good performance and now we have to focus on the game-to-come, and that is against East Bengal.”
On today’s performance, Habas said,
“We have to improve the situation in the midfield and in our striking position. We have to press the opponents very well. I think we did well in all the other aspects. Kerala did put up a good competition but we won the 3 points and I’m very happy with the result”, Habas signed off.