Goa: After a loss against Jamshedpur FC, ATK Mohun Bagan will face Hyderabad FC and aim for a winning return in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Margao, on Friday. Hyderabad are still unbeaten in the season and with ATKMB hungry for a win, it will be an exciting clash to watch out for.
ATKMB looked out of shape in the last match with the defence looking lackluster. It might turn to be a problem against Hyderabad FC and with the likes of Aridane Santana and Halicharan Narzary in the opposition, ATKMB have their task cut out.
Antonio Lopez Habas needs to change his strategy a bit, as his team has been lacking the cutting edge in the first half. If they play a dominating game from the start that might help them to win comfortably. The likes of Edu Garcia, Brad Inman had been poor in creating chances for Roy Krishna and that became the major point to their loss against Jamshedpur.
Habas knows about these small things and surely a coach of his caliber will make some changes. In the pre-match press conference, he said, “We can do fantastic work around set-pieces. Last season, we just conceded one goal from set-pieces in all matches. Now in one match, we have conceded two. I hope we improve. The opponents had good players for this situation. I have full confidence in my players and I hope this kind of situation will not be repeated.”
Hyderabad FC on the other hand know that ATKMB can hit them back in the counter-attack. So likes of Adil Khan could be an obvious choice for coach Manolo Marquez to stop the flow of counter-attacks. Aridane will be the main target man for Hyderabad. They are much dependent on the Spanish player for goals. He will be a key factor who might change the course of the match in one go.
Assistant coach Thangboi Singto who looked confident in the pre-match press conference said this, “It’s true that we have been doing well defensively. But we have to score more goals, that is the target. ATK Mohun Bagan is going to be difficult because they got top foreign and Indian players but we have to focus on ourselves. ATK Mohun Bagan is always going to be tough for all the teams because they have the depth and strength in every department but what’s most important for us is to look at what we can do better.”
