Chennaiyin FC gaffer Csaba László addressed the media prior to their last league match of the year against Antonio Habas’s ATK Mohun Bagan tomorrow, at the GMC Athletic Stadium in Bambolim.
Gaffer started the session with some injury updates.
“With Fanai, we don’t have any positive news. With Isma, whether he will be on the bench will be decided after the training consulting with the doctors. He looks really good and has made good progress. I am sure that in the next game, he will be completely fit.” Coach also added that Regan is back and the team is all set for the match.
The Marina Machans had7 goals this season with 6 different scorers, commenting on that, the Hungarian said:
“In every team, there is not just one goalscorer. From different places from the right, the left, and the middle, people who can bring danger over the goal are also a part of our strategy and we will also be happier if our main striker scores. We missed a lot of chances even in the last game.”
Gaffer is delighted with the performance of Indian players as he praised them.” I’m so happy that we have Indian goal scorers like Ali, Chhangte, Thapa. I think it is also important for the Indian strikers and Indian players generally, they can score goals too and we work in different directions and don’t look at positions and I encourage my players. Even in the set pieces, we had some good possibilities for Eli and for Sipovic. It is important for us to have a balance.”
The team has only scored 7 goals even after creating a huge number of chances, speaking on that the gaffer said “It is always something which depends on the decisions, variations especially at the highest levels like that of India, Germany or somewhere else. To create a chance you need creativity, you need to be in the front and need to take the risks to score.”
He added ” In the beginning, I saw Chhangte’s talent. In every game, he comes to the position to score but he didn’t. Even in the last season, he missed a lot of chances. I began to work with him individually on the basics. “
“Wherever you go in life, indifferent of what you are doing, what your profession is, you must have the basics. If you believe it or not I was the happiest man in the last game after he scored, he came to me and said” coach, thankyou.”
” I think, for me, it is my biggest compliment in my time here in India, a player like Chhangte who knows that it was not a big help, but recognized that with one or two training sessions separately with him which helped him to score a goal and get the confidence. We will continue with this with Ali, Thapa because these players not just need confidence, they need to learn how to make decisions Sometimes, you have to go low. You don’t think of it as a professional team and you are training 16 or 17 years boys. On the other side, you see how important it is to go back to the basics, and they are learning very quickly.”
Deepak Tangri and Rahim Ali are showing their colours on the pitch, commenting on the two Indian internationals, he said
“I come in, I had to see what kind of team it is, and actually Deepak and Ali, who are slowly doing more and more. They can be a very important piece of the puzzle. Deepak played in the right-back position and I think he made just one mistake and helped the team, made the biggest save too. Even Ali did not play in the number 9 position. He scored a very good goal and in the 2 following games, he has scored. That makes me happy and he can be an example to the other players too, and I’m very happy for them.”
“Rahim is a player who doesn’t know how talented he is, and it’s good. He had something special, I worked with many talented people and my biggest task is to lift them and explore, put confidence in the pitch and remove the fear. Sometimes I feel he want to do more and in his case, less is a little bit more.” He added that Rahim is an asset and will be an important part of Indian football.
The team drew to East Bengal this weekend and are facing another Kolkata side in the span of three days. Gaffer was asked about stopping Roy Krishna and his plans for ATKMB he commented,
“I had the same question, a little bit similar against Goa. I try to prepare the team against the opponent not against one or two players. But the eyes are open for the dangerous players. ATKMB is very combat and stable team that looks to dominate the game. They have very offensive players who are fast. They know how to score goals. For me, it is also important to play close tactically and reduce gaps.”
“I try to build a team which is compact and help each other because together we can win a game. Individuals can change a game like we have Rafa, Chhangte, Thapa, Jakub, Ali and even Fatkulo are capable of changing the game in a positive way for us. “
He added “The biggest enemy for me is the time. If you see, after the game against East Bengal, we didn’t even have a complete day for training. We played just recently, we had a recovery day, small training today and tomorrow you have to play, you don’t have two-three days to take the team and try to train tactically. For this reason, ATKMB for example has a big advantage because this team has stayed together, with the same coach, with the same ideology, and has a good advantage. We have to face it. I hope tomorrow we can get positive results.”
Laszlo was asked about the striking contingent of his team in comparison with last season’s brilliant performer and golden boot winner Nerijus Valskis, who apparently signed for Jamshedpur FC along with former CFC gaffer Owen Coyle. Speaking on how effective the replacement was, he praises Valskis and said
“The club made efforts to replace him, in a short time it’s not always easy to find a goalscorer. Every club wants a good goal scorer. We have two foreigners, Isma and Jakub Sylvester and we are definitely working on it.”
Isma has been out due to his injuries, coach shared his thoughts on the striker
“Isma is also very upset. He came from Japan, he began very well, in the first game he assisted and a fantastic finish from Thapa, then he scored a penalty and had good chances. We are hoping that he recovers fast.”
Coach also shared his thoughts on his Slovakian striker
” Jakub Sylvester is different. He is always involved, even in the last game he had assists, he has scored two goals in the other way, one is smiling and other is crying as he missed some very good chances. When he scores he gets more confidence “
He also expressed,
“I don’t actually want to talk about the new signing as I’m really hoping Isma to come back very fit, physically and mentally. He can show that he is a good striker.”
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