ISL 2019 | Eelco Schattorie expresses his frustration after 1-1 draw against FC Pune City
ISL
NorthEast United FC coach Eelco Schattorie was left frustrated after FC Pune City held his side to a 1-1 draw at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Wednesday. NEUFC are currently placed third on the ISL points table with 28 points from a total of 17 matches this season.
NorthEast United FC
Schattorie, who has previously also coached East Bengal FC made his views on the tie at the post-match press conference and said that the result will add extra pressure on his team going into the final league fixture.
“Yes, you have to win but we lost two of our most important defensive players. That means Jose Leudo with the red card and Mato Grgic with four yellow cards. So, both will not play the next match. So, that’s a doom scenario. We need to have a replacement there,” Schattorie said at the post-match conference.
Northeast find themselves at number three on the ISL table behind Bengaluru FC and table-toppers FC Goa and lead Mumbai City FC by just one point. The Dutch coach went on to talk about his side’s performance against a determined Pune team.
“Structurally if you look at the last ten games, the best games we’ve played is where we played with our first-choice 11. In the first half, it was terrible. We lost so many balls. We shot the balls away. That makes the other team stronger because they are more a fighting team. They play long balls and fight. It gives them more control.
“At half time I told my players to start stepping up and keep the ball. That worked and we scored one good ball. The goal was a defensive mistake. In the last ten minutes, we tried to play a bit more direct but that didn’t work. So, for the last game it is going to be a huge task,” Schattorie added. Â
Meanwhile, home team coach Phil Brown also admitted that he was disappointed with the end result against the Highlanders.
“Yes, I was disappointed with one point. I was disappointed with the way we conceded the goal. I’m not blaming one person for that. I thought tonight’s game was going to be a 1-0 game. Everybody was challenging, everybody was tackling, everybody winning their individual battles. A mistake put us a goal behind,” Brown explained.Â
“I was delighted with the character and the spirit that the players showed. I think we should have done better with the chances. To go to Jamshedpur four-five days ago and then go to NorthEast and get four points from two games is no easy achievement. We’ve now got two games to go."
