Northeast United FC currently sit at the fifth spot with 15 points to their name and are in touching distance with the top 4. Ahead of the Highlanders’ clash against ATK MohunBagan, Assistant Coach Alison Kharsyntiew and Deshorn Brown addressed the media and here are a few qoutes from the Pre-match press conference.
The Highlanders have let go Spanish tactician Gerard Nus and Khalid Jamil has been handed the hot seat. Against Jamshedpur FC a massive change was seen in their style of play as they relied more on short passes and possession based football rather than long balls which was seen in most of their games. Regarding this Coach Alison said, “Yes, you have to make the correct decision on the pitch, it’s not about the long balls or short passes. It’s all about the correct ball in the correct and that’s how we will be playing.”
Hero ISL debutants ATK MohunBagan have a different philosophy on the pitch. They sit back and allow their opponent to play football but at the same time they make the most out of their chances. Coach Alison was asked about what’s gonna be his game plan against the Mariners and he said, “Whatever it is or however they (ATK MohunBagan) play we need to dictate the play, we need to control the game and when we don’t have the ball we have to defend well. And When we have the ball we have to keep it well and if we get a correct chance to operate and attack, we will attack and if not we will be patient with the ball,”
The Mariners have scored majority of their goals in the second half and are too good in stealing injury time winners. Concentration will surely be a defining factor as a lack of concentration will cost them heavily. “We are prepared for that and am sure the boys will do a good job tomorrow,” said coach Alison.
There’s alot of activity happening behind the scenes in the coaching staff as Gerard Nus’ assistant coach Ivan Pinol has also stepped down and has returned to Spain. Coach Alison Kharsyntiew and Khalid Jamil are looking after the first team and have been trying hard to get the best out of the players. “I respect Coach Khalid alot. He’s a very experienced coach and we work together everyday to improve the players and the team to take this club to the best position in the ongoing season.”
Northeast United’s number 19 Benjamin Lambot played was involved in every minute of the ongoing season until their last outing against Jamshedpur which he missed out on owing to an injury. Giving us an update about Benjamin Lambot he said “Benjamin is fit and is training with the team.”
It took nothing more than 16 minutes for Northeast United FC’s latest import Deshorn Brown to score his first goal and that goal brought an end to their 7 match winless run. Deshorn said, “I feel really good. They [Northeast United FC] gave me an opportunity to fight and to get the goal to help the team move up in the table was a great feeling,”
On being asked about the difference in playing style of Northeast United and Bengaluru FC Deshorn said, “It (NorthEast’s style) is different from what Bengaluru play. I think this style gives you more of a scoring opportunity. The difference is these guys penetrate from the middle as well. Bengaluru mostly goes wide which means the deliveries are not always great. Here, there’s a mixture of everything which is great. So for me, I feel it is effective for any player,”
Deshorn sounded optimistic ahead of the game against ATK MohunBagan. “We’ll stick to the plan. They are a good team but any team can beat any team. We just have to get going from the beginning and things will happen,” he signed off.