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NorthEast United played out a rather disappointing 1-1 draw against Hyderabad FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium on Sunday.
The Highlanders took more than double the number of shots (25) than Hyderabad (11) but were left rueing the fact that they could put only one past Gurmeet Singh's goal.
Head coach Juan Pedro Benali seemed disappointed with his team's performance. He was sharply critical of the missed opportunities by his team.
“I'm not happy with the result. Especially when you see the game, we got numerous chances—maybe seven, eight, or ten. But the problem is that in football when you don't kill, you get killed. This is how it is,” Benali stated in the post-match press conference.
“They played their game. They played smart. Well, we should have scored (more). If we score two, three, or four in the first half, nobody would have been surprised. In the second half, we didn't start very well. Suddenly, with the changes, the team changed again, and we had more chances to score, but we didn't do it. Maybe we keep it for the next game,” he added.
"This is how it's in football. Football is not only one single game; it has many, many small games during the game. In the second half, the first ten minutes, we were not very well. But after 10–15 minutes, when we made the changes, the team changed a lot, and we started playing (well again),” Benali continued.
"There was too much space in the middle" - Juan Pedro Benali
Juan Pedro Benali seemed disappointed with the fact that there was a lot of space given by NorthEast footballers to Hyderabad in some pockets of the game.
Center-forward Nestor Albiach took most of the shots for the Highlanders but was responsible for missing a lot as well.
The only goal that the hosts scored was off a huge deflection that Hyderabad center-back Nim Dorjee Tamang (a former Highlander) got from a well-worked set-piece routine. That lead was nullified by Petteri Pennanen's first goal in Hyderabad colours.
“There was too much space in the middle, and we couldn't find those players easily. The moment we started finding Romain Philippoteaux inside, Macarton Louis Nickson after Nestor Albiach or Ibson Melo inside with Jithin M. S. and Huidrom Thoi Singh on the sides, we created much more chances. In the second half, for the first ten minutes, we were impatient. We wanted to arrive very quickly, and we wanted to score because we had too many chances. Psychologically, we want to go, and we need to have that patience a little bit,” he added.
“But we need experience, and games give you that experience. What we needed was to calm down, try to play, and wait for the situation (to come). And in the last 25–30 minutes, we created many chances again. We dominated the game, but we still need that click. It will come. I'm positive it will come,” Benali signed off.
