“Perhaps I couldn’t play well because of fatigue,” stated East Bengal coach Antonio Habas
“It was a bad performance from my team. I think my players were very tired. We could not maintain the intensity and transitions properly throughout the match. The opposition played very well, which caused us problems. We need to improve further. We have been travelling outside Kolkata for a week now. However, I am hopeful that we will be able to overcome this issue before the next match.”
XtraTime Newsdesk
Antonio Lopez Habas was disappointed and dissatisfied. That was the central message from the East Bengal head coach at the press conference after his team played out an away draw against Al Seeb in Oman.
Habas described the performance as a poor one, saying, “It was a bad performance from my team. I think my players were very tired. We could not maintain the intensity and transitions properly throughout the match. The opposition played very well, which caused us problems. We need to improve further. We have been travelling outside Kolkata for a week now. However, I am hopeful that we will be able to overcome this issue before the next match.”
East Bengal will face Al Seeb again in the return fixture at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan on November 3. Speaking about the upcoming encounter, the East Bengal coach said, “We are taking it one match at a time. The next match, the return leg, will determine our future. We are not thinking beyond that.”
Reflecting further on the goalless draw, Habas added, “Either team could have won this match. Al Seeb had their chances to win, and East Bengal could have won as well, but the match ended goalless. We will have to fight to change this result in Kolkata. We know that we can play much better.”