ISL 2023-24: Will see big stars coming out of Odisha FC in 4-5 years, asserts Sergio Lobera

Odisha FC head coach Sergio Lobera has predicted that we will see big stars coming out of the club in four or five years. The Kalinga Warriors is currently at the top of the Indian Super League standings with nine wins in 14 matches and a total of 30 points.

The Juggernauts have won their last four matches and they will look to continue the good show when they will face second-placed FC Goa, who are the only unbeaten team in the tournament.

Meanwhile, the young players are rising through the ranks for Odisha FC and have delivered the goods.

Players like Brandon Fernandes, Manvir Singh, Lenny Rodrigues, and Mandar Rao have played under the tutelage of Sergio Lobera in the ISL and have gone on to represent the Blue Tigers.

“Individuals shine when the team does well. Odisha FC have a number of young players with an amazing future. One of my main jobs is to increase the number of players playing in the national team. I did this in FC Goa. When I went there, they had only one-two players playing in the national team, and then a lot of players went to the national team. This is also my target in Odisha FC,” Lobera said.

He added, “They have a great future, but also a good present, because they need to help us to achieve results, as we are in a professional setup and we need to win. I am very excited with the job we can do with some players in the future. We have young talent and in four-five years, maybe some of these players will be big stars in Indian football.”

The Spaniard added the main job of the manager is to manage the players in the best possible manner and get the best out of them.

“The main job of a coach is to manage a group to get a good performance. Managing a group means a lot of things, not only about tactical and technical situations, but to do it with different persons and targets, also with individual targets, as everyone wants to win the Golden Boot and similar awards. We need to manage the balance between individual and collective targets,” Lobera said.

“That is the key as a coach. When you work in different countries, customs, and mentalities, you cannot compare Chinese, Moroccan, Spanish, and Indian players. As a coach I learnt a lot about this, because you need to put a lot of effort to get performance from different clubs, people, customs, and persons,” he added.

Lobera added that Indian players are always keen to learn new things at the top level. “India is a special place to work with Indian players, because they want to learn a lot. They listen to everything that you tell them. It’s important to understand their personal lives. There are families behind these players, and if you get success by doing a good job in clubs, your life can change. As a coach, it’s very important for me to improve the level of players, but it’s also important to help players in their personal lives and situations, because if you want to have a good situation on the pitch, you need to have stability on the pitch too,” Lobera said.