Ahead of the clash against Mumbai City FC, Hyderabad FC’s head-coach Manolo Marquez addressed the media in a pre-match press conference.
Hyderabad played their last match against NorthEast United and they had a break of eight days after that to prepare for the game against Mumbai City FC. The coach thinks that these breaks help the players.
“When you play every four or five days sometimes three days, the breaks are good not only for recovered players but it is fresher for the players and playing continuously is not so good. “
The Hyderabad gaffer once said that Mumbai is the favourites to win the league and his team is playing against Mumbai tomorrow. So this is what Manolo Marquez had to say.
“It will be a very difficult game because they have not lost in 9 consecutive games. I think our plan for tomorrow is to change a few details about our game but it is important that we don’t lose our style of play only for one game because we have to play Odisha only after 3 days and we have to continue with our style”
Mumbai City FC has conceded the least number of goals this season but does Manolo Marquez thinks it is a big confidence booster that Hyderabad has scored 8 goals in 2 games?
“This is football, we have scored 7 goals in eight games and 8 goals in two games. . We are one of the teams that creates more chances in a game. I think that tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow the opponent is very strong, and you have to wish that they have a bad day. We want to play a good game tomorrow and let’s see what happens.”
Mumbai City is a team which likes to keep the ball in play will we see Hyderabad sitting back and hitting back at the counter or will we see Hyderabad holding onto the ball and not letting Mumbai City have a natural game?
“We want the ball but we know what type of opponent we are facing tomorrow. When there is a game that both teams want to have the ball, usually the best team tries to get the ball for more time, but the last time we played against Mumbai they played very very good in the first half and in the second half I was very happy because Hyderabad was Hyderabad and in the first half they were better, and in the second half we had more personality because we played better.”
Liston is the fan’s favourite player in ISL this season and will he have the blessing of Manolo Marques and play a few minutes tomorrow as Mumbai City’s defence have often struggled with pace?
“Liston is a very good player, the other day he practically he decided the game with his goals against NorthEast but let’s see because we have to play 10 games in 43 days and we are not sure about our team tomorrow because we have another important game on Tuesday. Let’s see if Liston plays tomorrow or on Tuesday in the line-up”
Hyderabad FC has signed Roland Alberg as their seventh foreign player in this winter transfer window and Manolo Marquez thinks he is an important player for Hyderabad.
“He is a player who can play in different positions He can play as an LM or RM. He is a player who is a lot more offensive than defensive. He has a lot of quality and let’s see about tomorrow because it is difficult to play after the quarantine and I think he can play a few minutes tomorrow because he is an important player for the second leg.”
Manolo Marquez has said that Nikhil Poojary, Fran Sandaza and Souvik Chakrabarty are out of the squad tomorrow.
Is Subrata Paul injured? Is his injury the reason why he hasn’t been playing in the starting XI?
“Subrata Paul has a problem with his knee for a long time, and he is trying to improve, but at this moment, Kattimani is the other option. Kattimani is a goalkeeper who has a lot of experience, and he is a very good goalkeeper for our team.”
Manolo Marquez signed off.
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