Manolo Marquez slams India’ poor performance after draw against Bangladesh

India’s head coach Manolo Marquez was not impressed with the team’s poor performance after a goalless draw against Bangladesh in the AFC Asian Qualifiers match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Shillong on Tuesday. 

The gaffer reckons they were lucky to not concede the goal in the first half. The Spaniard said they were slightly better in the second half but overall it was a very poor performance. 

“Nothing to say. We were very lucky to not have conceded one goal in the first half, especially. In the second half, it was better, but still very poor. Very poor performance If you ask me, today is the most difficult press conference in my career because I don’t want to say all the things that are in my head at this moment. We played a bad game. And that’s all,” he said during the post-match press conference.

The Blue Tigers manager added they lacked intent throughout the game, which was really disappointing for him.

He said, “I know that the game started with one pass back. And the goalkeeper passed the ball to the player. And the striker, without the goalkeeper, sent the ball out. Then, this is nothing about experience or not having any experience. This was how you entered the game. Then, in this case, it was the goalkeeper. But today practically, it was every single player.”

“It was a very bad game. We got one point. Maybe this is the best thing. It’s true that in the second half, we tried. But not enough, in my opinion,” he remarked.

The head coach said he doesn’t want to make any excuses despite missing some key players and urged his players to improve in all areas.

“It’s easy to speak about excuses. A lot of very important players, starters, are not here—all of them are injured. But this is not an excuse,” he stated.

“First, it’s a reality. Second, we need to always improve. Even playing good football, we need to improve always in all areas — in defence, in attack, in transitions, in services. Everything. Today was not our day. I think that the other game was also a new thing. We will start again in the second round,” Marquez expressed as he concluded.