ISL 2023-24: Very disappointed with the hard loss – Kerala Blasters FC’s Ivan Vukomanovic after defeat against Mohun Bagan Super Giant

Kerala Blasters FC head coach Ivan Vukomanovic shared his disappointment after his team suffered a 4-3 loss against Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the 19th match week of the ongoing Indian Super League at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi on Wednesday.

It was a roller-coaster match as seven goals were scored by both teams. The visitors opened the scoring as Armando Sadiku scored early in the fourth minute. However, Vibin Mohanan equalized for the home team in the 54th minute.

The Mariners once again took the lead as Armando Sadiku scored in the 60th minute. But the Yellow Tuskers equalized as Dimitrios Diamantakos found the back of the net after three minutes.

The tourists were then put into the lead as Deepak Tangri scored after five minutes. Jason Cummings was able to put the game to bed as he scored in the stoppage time to give a 4-2 lead to his team. Two minutes later, Diamantakos scored his second of the night to give a ray of hope to Kerala Blasters FC but it was not enough in the end.

“Look, set pieces if you speak about the focus of the football game, its five parts. What do you do when you have the ball, what do you do when you don’t have the ball, what do you do immediately after you lose the ball, what do you do immediately after you recover the ball and set pieces,” Ivan Vukomanovic said during the post-match press conference.

“So these five elements are the most important part of a football game. So when it comes to set pieces, of course as a team, you work on that. You work during the week. You spend some time doing that. During the game, it comes to concentration, it comes to responsibility, it comes to being aware of the situation and taking that responsibility,” he added.

The Serbian manager reckons lack of concentration and individual mistakes led to his team’s downfall in the end.

He said, “In this kind of game after you equalise twice, you need that momentum, you cannot allow your man to run away. So that’s a mindset that every player needs when the moment comes. And this is the difference between the top players on the higher level who are capable of doing that and the players that sometimes switch off and then you can see this kind of goal, especially against teams like Mohun Bagan SG.”

Kerala Blasters FC will next face Jamshedpur FC at the JRD Tata Sports Complex on 30th March.