ISL 2023-24: The result wasn’t important for us – Chennaiyin FC’s Owen Coyle after loss against FC Goa

Chennaiyin FC’s head coach Owen Coyle said the result wasn’t important for them after their 4-1 loss in the 22nd match week of the ongoing Indian Super League 2023-24 against FC Goa at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa on Sunday.

Rahim Ali scored in the 13th minute for the visitors to put them in front. However, Borja Herrera equalized in the 33rd minute for the hosts. Subsequently, Carlos Martinez and Brandan Fernandes scored before the half-time whistle to give them a 3-1 lead.

Martinez completed his brace as he found the back of the net in the 72nd minute. However, Chennaiyin FC had already qualified for the playoffs before this game and it was a dead rubber contest for the visitors.

“The result wasn’t important for us tonight. We’d obviously worked so hard. And you can see that I made nine changes. I mean, that’s not the team that’s going to take the field in the playoffs by any manner of means. We were excellent first 30 minutes. Outstanding. Probably should have, certainly should have been a minimum of two in front. Probably could have been three in front. Some great play from the lads came in,” he stated in the post-match press conference.

He added: “FC Goa are a very good side when they pass the ball. When you give them time which we did, we’ve lost a goal from a throw and it was so easily avoidable. And we’ve allowed Carlos (Martinez) to stand in the box unmarked, which you can’t do at this level.”

“And then you can see the third goal that kind of killed us just before half time. So I said at half time what we had to do really, the truth, and you’ve probably seen the way we shaped up in the second half was to conserve our energy, make sure we do any shape, two lines of four. With the striker, keep a solid shape. We didn’t have to get back in. We just had to make sure we conserved our energy where we could because we had only ten men. And that’s how we played out the second half. Obviously, we lost the second half 1-0 with 10 men but the boys applied themselves to their jobs. We had a couple of good chances as well.”

Chennaiyin FC will take on the side that finishes in third place in the standings in the playoffs. Coyle gave his best wishes to FC Goa for the playoffs.

“Good luck to FC Goa. We know they still have a chance of finishing second. If we come back here, we’ll be ready for it. And trust me, we will be looking forward to it. Because I’ve seen enough tonight to know that we can make a real impact in that game,” Coyle expressed.

“I’ve got full respect and admiration (for FC Goa). But in terms of coming to the game, yeah I’ll be looking forward to it with my best team for sure,” he further said.