"We are not busy occupied with the table standings"- Kerala Blasters coach Ivan Vukomanovic insists his team are focussed on playing their best football

Kerala Blasters defeated Hyderabad FC 1-0 in match number 55 of the ISL 2021-22 season.

With the win, Kerala Blasters became the league leaders. It was a good game, with both teams displaying a positive brand of football. The match witnessed some good end-to-end action. Kerala Blasters took the lead in the 42nd minute through an Alvaro Vazquez strike.

Hyderabad FC tried hard in the second half and did come close to scoring on several occasions, but they failed to score in the end. Kerala Blasters had a couple of chances to score and double the lead, but they could not do so.

Kerala Blasters extended their unbeaten run to nine games today.

Speaking to the media after the game, Kerala Blasters coach Ivan Vukomanovic said the following regarding the game:

"We played against one of the most organized teams in the league today. They are well balanced and have been playing consistently since last year. They are one of the toughest teams to beat, and we are happy to beat them."

Manolo Marquez admitted to making changes very late in the game (Image courtesy: ISL social Media)

Hyderabad FC coach Manolo Marquez said the following regarding the match:

"We didn't deserve to lose. In the first few minutes of the first half and in the second half, we completely controlled the game. Kerala are a good team with great attacking players. They can score at any moment irrespective of how the game is going."

Hyderabad FC faced a similar situation in their last game where they were trailing but managed to get a draw from the game. Today though, they weren't able to do so, and this is what the coach felt:

"It is simple we didn't score, so we lost the game. Although maybe we scored, it is impossible to tell if it was an offside or not from where I was. Regarding the tactics, well, we waited a long time to make the changes and maybe that hampered our game."

Even with the loss today, Hyderabad FC is in the top four, and Manolo feels every team in the top seven-eight positions has a chance to make it to the playoffs.

Speaking about the match statistics, Ivan said the following things:

"We knew we were going to have a lot less of the ball. Any team that plays against Hyderabad FC knows that. So we were prepared in that way. He also knew we had to be clinical with the few chances we could get. Unfortunately, we lacked efficiency in the final third, or else we could have scored more. But we should be happy with the three points and the performance."

Ivan stressed upon the importance of player fitness and the need to keep players fit and healthy, especially with an ongoing pandemic.

Ogbeche will miss the next game (Image courtesy: ISL social media)

Hyderabad FC will miss their main striker Bartholomew Ogbeche in the next game as he picked up his fourth yellow card today.

Seityasen Singh is on loan at Hyderabad FC from Kerala Blasters. Ivan Vukomanovic said he would have liked Seityasen to stay at the Blasters but couldn't do much as the player wanted more game time and moved to Hyderabad FC.

He also said he was happy that Seityasen is getting more game time in Hyderabad FC as it will help Kerala Blasters in the long run.