Goa: ATK Mohun Bagan FC will face Jamshedpur FC at the Tilka Maidan, Vasco, Goa on Monday. The Kolkata-based side has been unbeaten with a 100 per cent win record and haven’t conceded a single goal. On the other hand, Jamshedpur FC will be looking for their maiden victory in this year’s ISL campaign.
Both teams will go for the kill on Monday. It’s more important for Jamshedpur FC to win as they haven’t been performing the way everyone expected. Nerijus Valskis has scored thrice till now but it hasn’t been the best possible start for them. They have managed two points out of their first three matches and languishing at the bottom half of the league table.
Certainly, this is not the start Jamshedpur would have expected under coach Owen Coyle, who has been a successful last season with the Chennaiyin FC. It will be a difficult task for the side as they are going to face the strongest side of this season, ATK Mohun Bagan. Coyle will be making tactics to stop Roy Krishna and also to break the ATKMB defence to score against the club who have been carrying three clean sheets after their first three matches.
In the pre-match press conference, Coyle said, “Every game is a challenge. ATK Mohun Bagan have started well and achieved some good results but they have all been very close games. We’re looking forward to the game against a good opposition and a good team and good coach. We need to convert the draws into wins and get the three points.”
ATK Mohun Bagan on the other hand has been like a well-oiled machine. They snatched their last match in stoppage time against Odisha FC. The side have been playing well but lacking the quality in midfield. But with too many good players on the side, the team has been performing well under Antonio Lopez Habas.
“It’s not been our best game,” Habas said after the Odisha game. But a win is the most important thing in football and the team has been doing that pretty well. Krishna has been in a red hot form and everyone will be expecting something more from him in this match against Jamshedpur FC.
Habas has been tactical and strategic. He takes fewer risks and wins matches over counter-attacks and hope for a similar kinda strategy on Monday. In the pre-match press conference Habas said, “Jamshedpur FC will be a difficult team for us because they have to win and they have that pressure. All teams have a similar pressure this season. They have reinforced their squads with good players and it will be very difficult to win. It will be a difficult match because I know Owen well.”
