Coach, a 2-2 draw at home and especially the comeback, it must be feeling disappointing. What are your initial thoughts on the team’s performance and the result?

I think the comeback and the reaction of the team was very good after conceding the goals but we need to put the focus in trying to avoid this situation because I think we concede clear chances to the opponent team during some period of the game. It’s more about our mistakes and we need to improve this. Finally my feeling is we lost two points more than we won one point because we were playing at home and we generated clear chances. It is true that they also have some chances but my feeling today is we lost the points.

Despite the draw there were some strong moments in the attack. How satisfied are you with the attacking performance and what could have been done differently to secure the win?

It’s good to win more clinically in the last half. I think when you have, it’s difficult to have a lot of chances and attempts against the opponent teams and when you have this opportunity you need to kill the game. I think we need to be more clinical in the last step and also we are a team who are playing very open when we got the possession of the ball and we are suffering in transitions. When we are losing the ball the opponent team is finding a lot of spaces and during some period especially in the first part of the game when we conceded two goals in these transitions we need to improve because finally we need to be compact we need to be solid. Last season we got a lot of clean sheets till now we don’t have any and we need to be solid. Thinking in terms of attack, but for us the best way to defend is to have the possession of the ball.

In the second half do you think Odisha lost control of the Midfield battle and how will you address this moving forward?

There are a lot of transitions and you need to think also about the opponent team. I think today the people can watch the game, two teams going for the win playing attacking football, not speculations and I think it’s good for the supporters and for the people watching this kind of game. We lost the point, I agree during some period of the second half but we closed the spaces better. They tried and they suffered more than us in the first half to get spaces. But we need to learn, we need to improve and we need to put the focus in the next game.

We are struggling in every match with a shaky defense and our attackers are carrying the extra pressure to score goals what is your long-term plan for the defense?

No as I told you before I think we need to be more clinical because the chances are there. We are generating chances and we need to be more clinical in the last step. This is the reason we need to try to find the balance when we have the possession of the ball and when we lose the possession of the ball we need to improve in transitions and we need to be more clinical in the last step.

How would you rate the 2 halves of the match?

For me today there were four halves. The first one when we conceded a lot of chances to the opponent team and we conceded goals. The reaction of our team in the first half, dominating the game scoring two goals and also with the opportunity to score one more. The first part of the second half, during some period we lost the control of the game because we lost the possession of the ball. In the last part in the fourth half for me i.e. the second half of the second half each team tried to win, where they could have won and we could have won, there was no midfield. It was box to box game and this was the analysis from my side in terms of the different phases of the game.

You asked for more supporters and the number was much more than the last match. How satisfied were you with this?

This is amazing. When you are feeling this atmosphere, it is amazing because you are feeling the people that they are pushing us and they are helping us. It’s difficult to come back after being down 2 goals. If you don’t have the people supporting you then its impossible. I think it’s amazing to have more supporters every game and hopefully I am very grateful. Hopefully we can get them what they deserve, make them enjoy watching the games and happiness when the game is over.

Coach, with the next fixture after the international break how will the team plan to prevent a loss in the momentum?

I think now it’s very important for the players to be in a good mental situation. The season is long and we need to be ready and you know the players are excited with highest level of motivation. We will have a very good game after the break and we need to prepare like in this game, finally what is in our hands, we need to do our best. Another thing which is not in our hands for example, today if the referees are asking for respect, they need to give respect to us also right? In my opinion Mr Venkatesh and the four assistants I don’t feel they had the respect for the coaches i.e. myself or the opponent coach. I don’t think he was right to show the yellow cards to the coaches and also facing to me and smiling at the same time. The same thing he did after the final against East Bengal when he gave the penalty against us. It’s difficult because I want to respect the referees because I think they are doing a very difficult job and this is my sixth season in in India and I want to respect a lot of the referees because I know how difficult it is for them. But today the referees and the four assistants, I don’t feel they had the same respect I have for them.

Note: This is a transcript of the post match press conference. Please watch the video of the press conference below: