ISL 2022-23: If we play this way, we are not going to lose many games – FC Goa’s Carlos Pena

FC Goa’s head coach Carlos Pena believes his team is not going to lose many games if they play the way they played against defending champions Hyderabad FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa on Thursday despite losing by 3-1.

FC Goa dominated the possession with 59% and they were clearly the better team on the day but the result didn’t go their way. The Gaurs took three shots on target and came up with a collective show.

Bartholomew Ogbeche scored a hat-trick for the Nizams whereas Redeem Tlang equalized for the home team in the 54th minute. But the Nigerian helped his team clinch three crucial points.

“I think today football hasn’t been fair on us. We tried, we were creating chances, we controlled the game, and dominated the game for the large parts. In the last part of the first half and then the last minutes of the game, it was difficult for us to come back with the scoreline being 2-1, the rhythm was broken but we created chances and we couldn’t convert them and I think that has been the difference,” Pena stated in the post-match press conference.

The Spaniard revealed the strategy was not to give easy crosses and set-pieces to the opposition and they will work on it for the upcoming matches.

“We had a talk before the game, that it was important for us to not conceded easy crosses and when you give time to their (Hyderabad FC) wingers to cross, you’re not marking properly and a player like (Bartholomew) Ogbeche in the box, they can create problems of course but we will work on that,” Pena stated.

Pena wants his team to learn from their mistakes and bounce back stronger in the forthcoming matches.

“We will also try to take advantage of the chances we had because we had clear chances. We want to be close to the top teams, you have to be always perfect in attack and defence. The performance of the team has been good. We had chances and we were creating them and we had opportunities to score,” he said.

“This is not a loss that’s been worrying me. You don’t have to be worried, of course, we are going to analyse the mistake but playing this way, we are not going to lose many games till the end. (There were) many positives today, I know it’s a very tough day because everyone could see that we were very close to getting one point. We need to think about the next game against NorthEast United FC and if we play this way, trust me we are not going to lose many games,” Pena added.

FC Goa will be up against NorthEast United FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati on 15th January.