Kerala Blasters head coach criticizes conditions in Kolkata ahead of Durand Cup clash against Delhi FC

Kerala Blasters will be up against Delhi FC in their final Durand Cup fixture as they need a win to secure a spot in the quarterfinals. The Blasters are tied in the second spot with the Indian Navy and they need to win against a strong Delhi FC side.

Ahead of the match head coach Ivan Vukomanovic addressed the media and spoke at length about the conditions in Kolkata.

However, the press conference started with him discussing the previous game as the Blasters received three red cards against Bengaluru FC. The Serbian tactician said, “First half, we had control of the game with a goal. In the second half, I think the officials lost a kind of grip of the game, that affected the fact that some of the players and their reactions on the pitch. I think that the red card, they get correctly, okay. But, I think that it should have never happened. I think that even if they are provoked or they lose, they should not respond like that.

“Of course, I was not pleased with their reaction and I told them afterwards. So actually, their biggest punishment will be tomorrow, they will not be personally participating in the games and actually, also for the future. It also gives us the coaching staff, kind of insight about playing games. So, we’ll see for the next time. I think that we had the game under control,” he further added.

Speaking about preparations for the do or die match, Vukomanovic highlighted how the conditions were not favourable in Kolkata. He spoke about how the team has not had a proper training session ahead of the game.

“Since we arrived in Kolkata, we have only had five training sessions. We couldn’t train the day before our games because the training grounds are under water. And today is the same case, heavy rain started again last night and we’ve been visiting the training grounds to see if it will be possible to train because we have our training for this afternoon. Most probably we will not be able to go on the pitch, because all the training grounds are underwater. Yesterday we had one training session and the last training we had was seven days ago. I think this part of the pre-season period is total time wasting,” Vukomanovic revealed.

“I think that tomorrow if we speak about a football game, it will not look like a football game, it will just be rolling in the mud. We will see about the players who will participate or not, because, again, today would be the third time that we cannot train the day before the game. Even tomorrow it will be like fighting in the bottom and it won’t look like a football game. We have to proceed with our ISL pre-season period preparation, still with these last reinforcements,” he further added.