ISL 2021-22: We gave away silly goals – Chennaiyin FC’s Syed Sabir Pasha

Chennaiyin FC head coach Syed Sabir Pasha feels his team conceded silly goals while playing against Jamshedpur FC after they lost by 4-1 at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in the 96th match of the ongoing Hero Indian Super League on Sunday.  Pasha feels his team lacked discipline in marking despite working so hard in the training sessions.

The Marina Machans conceded three goals in the first half as Ritwik, Boris, and Daniel Chukwu scored for Jamshedpur FC. Furthermore, Devrani scored his own goal which added salt to the injury for Chennaiyin FC.

In fact, Chennaiyin FC had 53% of the possession but they could only take four shots on target.

When asked whether the scoreline gives a fair reflection of the game, Pasha said in the post-match press conference, “Oh, I don’t think so. We gave away silly goals and were not marking which shows the lack of discipline after so much work. I think we have to be disciplined in set-pieces. And we were very strong with that in the practice sessions but somehow, we lost that. I don’t want to comment on individuals as it’s a collective game, but that lack of awareness is causing us harm from the first game or the other games where we started losing. I think that awareness has to come, we are not a bad side and we have to be stronger in that approach”.

Meanwhile, Chennaiyin FC is out of the semifinal race as they have 20 points from 18 matches. Pasha added that the team’s performance was better in the second half and they should have played similarly in the first 45 minutes.

He added, “​​See, I think we have been motivating them and they have to play for their pride, and they are professionals. So being a professional, you can’t just let your match go like this. Like as they played in the second half, they showed the character they were on them once the game was out. See, it’s not that you have to concede four goals and come out like that. If they can play like that from the start, I think they can easily win. It’s not a bad side. It can match the top teams”.

With two matches still left in the season for Chennaiyin FC, the head coach added that they will look to give more opportunities to the young Indian talent.

He concluded, “Yeah, naturally. The boys are showing it and we will try to put more Indian players into the focus. So this is a chance where they can go in and show what they can do for us in the next year. I think that is the right platform for them and we hope that we can do that”.

Chennaiyin FC will play their penultimate match of the season against Kerala Blasters FC at the Tilak Maidan Stadium on Saturday.