Manolo Marquez led Hyderabad FC impressed everyone with a 3-1 win over the defending champions Mumbai City FC on 27th November. The Nizams created plenty of chances in their opening game of the season against Chennaiyin FC but couldn’t find the net. Contrary to that, in the game against Mumbai, fans saw goals from Joao Victor, Bartholomew Ogbeche and youngster Rohit Danu, who became the youngest goalscorer for Hyderabad FC.
The Nizams will be playing their third game of the season against Owen Coyle’s Jamshedpur FC tomorrow. Ahead of the match, head coach Manolo Marquez addressed the media in a pre-match press conference.
Confidence in the dressing room after winning against the defending champions
“Obviously when you win a game, the team is always happy, if it is against the defending champions the morale is higher. Losing against Chennaiyin and then winning against Mumbai recovered our morale”
“I said in the post-match press conference against Chennaiyin – we can beat Mumbai, we have the strength to beat them. With the win against Mumbai, we showed that we can win against every team, if you beat the champions it means you can win against any team”
“But this is football and anything can happen, we can also lose against the last team in the table”
Comparison between the game against Chennaiyin and Mumbai
“In the game against Chennaiyin we had the ball, created many chances and didn’t find the net but in the last game, the ball was more with Mumbai than us, they created chances but couldn’t find the net and we scored through the chances we created. We need to capitalize on the chances we create to win games and we did that against Mumbai. Our defensive work was good in the last game.”
Standout performance by the foreign contingent
“All the performances by the foreign players were impressive. Joao, Bart, Juanan, Javi, Edu and Joel are the six foreigners we have and we are happy with these players. With the new rule of playing with seven Indians, you need to focus more on Indian players who will perform well in the game. In the last game, it was Rohit Danu, then in the next games there will be other players”
On Rohit Danu’s gameplay, passion
“The young players we have, they go step by step. They don’t take the easy path. Danu is a clever player, the humility and the curiosity to learn more in the training is what made him the player he is today”
“We have more young players and they are more or less in the same situation as Danu was in last season, we need to go step by step with them”
Thoughts on the upcoming game against Jamshedpur
“Owen Coyle’s team is always a tough opponent, last season both of our games against Jamshedpur ended in draws”
“They used more direct balls last season but this time with Greg Stuart they are playing more with the ball, they are one of the top contenders for playoffs.”
“The plans for tomorrow do not depend on either of the club’s last games. Even if a team didn’t win their last game, the match will be the same. Both the clubs will play with their preferred style.”
On the players Jamshedpur have
“Jamshedpur have good players across the entire pitch. Valskis and Murray are finishers. They also have forwards like Ishan Pandita, Greg Stewart, good midfielders like Jitendra, Alex Lima, and Mobashir. They have pacy wingers as well, making them a compact team.”
The difference in having Aridane Santana and Bart Ogbeche on the pitch
“They are very different players, Aridane is more of a number nine, Bartholomew Ogbeche is more of a mix between number nine and ten. Ogbeche has more mobility, Aridane scored 19 goals in two seasons, Ogbeche is the third-highest goalscorer in the history of ISL. Both of them are very good players with different styles.”
Team News, Injuries
“Halicharan Narzary and Sahil Tavora are the two players who will be missing the game against Jamshedpur FC”
A word to the fans
“The fans should always look out for the best version of the team, we will fight hard till the end to win, we can promise beautiful football, fighting spirit and everything but we cannot promise the final score. We will make sure the fans will love the play and also enjoy the wins”
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