ISL 2022-23: It’s my responsibility to find a solution – NorthEast United FC head coach Marco Balbul

NorthEast United FC head coach Marco Balbul has admitted that his responsibility to find a solution to the club’s problems. The Highlanders have got off to a poor start in the ongoing season of the Hero ISL as they have lost all of their five matches and thus they are yet to win their first point of the season.

NorthEast United hasn’t been able to come up with a collective effort so far in the tournament and they will quickly need to turn the tables in the upcoming matches to bounce back in the season.

NorthEast United FC suffered a 0-3 loss against Kerala Blasters FC in their last match and they looked out of sorts.

Sharing his thoughts on the club’s rough patch so far in the tournament, Marco Balbul told reporters, “There is no doubt that no one in the club is happy with the results. No one was happy with the previous match’s performance. The performance is bad for me. There is frustration but we still believe we have good players in the team and work very hard to change the situation. It’s my responsibility to find a solution, to be a better team, better organization in defense, better efficiency in attack. We have the motivation to go against ATK Mohun Bagan, to make a change in momentum. In some games we deserved to take a point but in some games it’s not. In football you have to work hard and you need to believe that we are going to change the momentum.”

NorthEast United FC will next face ATK Mohun Bagan at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata on Thursday and it is going to be a challenging match for them. The Mariners have won two out of the four matches they have played with one loss and one draw.

Speaking on ATK Mohun Bagan, Marco added, “For me, they are one of the best teams in the league. They have a deep squad with talented players. One of the most difficult away games in this league for sure. To beat ATK Mohun Bagan will be difficult but to close the gap between the teams, we should be very organized with good determination, and motivation, and as I said, we have to be very organized against such good players in defense. When we come (on the pitch), we will get our chances to score, but we should score in this game.”

The club hasn’t found the right balance in their final XI as they have failed to come up with a collective show. Balbul reckons his team should score goals in order to win.

He concluded, “I think in most of the games, we used a consistent eleven except for one or two injuries, but we didn’t find the right way to win games. These are things I am looking to be better (at). As I said, if you want to win games, you must score goals, Second, we cannot concede goals every game. We need to get a clean sheet. We need to be more aggressive and concentrate on (our) defense. When we come to attack, we need to be calmer and have the composure to score goals. We will try to find these solutions against ATK Mohun Bagan.”