ISL 2022-23: I’m happy with the three points, but not the performance – Juan Ferrando on win against Bengaluru FC

ATK Mohun Bagan boss Juan Ferrando was happy with the team’s win against Bengaluru FC but not with the performance of the side at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru on Saturday. Ferrando admitted they were not up to the mark in their transitions and they were out of order.

Dimitri Petratos scored in the 66th minute of the game to give the decisive lead to his team. In fact, the visitors could not only take one shot on target, which didn’t please their manager.

Sharing his thoughts on the team’s performance in the post-match press conference, Ferrando said, “I’m not completely happy. I think we have the same problem when we play away – the first 10-20 minutes, the team is not ready, they are misplacing passes. In my point of view, we have a lot of space (to exploit) on the right and left (side) with Suresh (Wangjam), but when we decided to attack in these areas, the last pass or the last control of the ball was not good.”

He continued, “Then, the second when we are moving with the ball, we need to improve a lot in these details. In the second half, when Bengaluru FC decided to play towards our goal and with the second balls, honestly, we were like two teams. One team in defence and one in attack, it’s not good. In this case, it’s necessary to be closer, more compact and in this case, the match was easy for us. It’s okay to accept that we had a very good team in front of us and the players were playing (away) in Bengaluru. I’m happy with the three points, but not the performance.”

Ferrando admitted Bengaluru FC has a good squad and feels it is imperative for the team to be clear in their ideas and execute the skills on the ground.

The Spaniard concluded, “Sometimes when you play one way, it’s necessary to be clear in the concepts. Everybody knew that we were playing a good opponent but we knew the plan of the opponent. And when you are on the field, you need to be clear with your ideas. The team knew that they would play from the back with (Sandesh) Jhingan, (Aleksandar) Jovanovic playing the second balls for Roy Krishna or (Sunil) Chhetri. We practiced this week about this situation and when no one wins the second ball, I was disappointed because we practiced this. If the opponent had a new plan, I would have accepted that, but in this case, when we played against them, we needed to be clear. But honestly, I am happy (with the result) because this team (Bengaluru FC) won the Durand Cup, they have a very good squad and it’s difficult to win here at this stadium.”

ATK Mohun Bagan will next take on Jamshedpur FC at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata on Thursday.