ISL 2019-20 | One point is good as ATK didn’t play good, says Antonio Habas

Table-toppers ATK and hosts Odisha FC played an entertaining goalless draw at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Sunday. Though hosts Odisha FC dominated the visitors throughout the match, they could not find the back of the net despite coming agonizingly close a couple of times. ATK retain their top spot in the league with 10 points in five games while Odisha FC are sixth on the table with five points.

ATK's ISL winning coach Antonio Habas is happy with the one point despite ATK playing a poor game. However, the coach has asked for improvement if ATK need the top spot.

“Maybe for tonight, one point is good for us. Today, the team didn’t play good. It is important to get these points when we are not particularly playing well. It was good that we didn’t concede a goal. Today was like that. We have to improve. We may be at the top of the table, but we will need to improve if we are to stay there.” Antonio Habas told reporters at the post-match conference, ISL website reported. 

ATK were struggling in their defence in the first half but they didn't let Odisha forwards get much action in the attacking third. And the coach spoke about the same. “I think it wasn’t a problem with the defence. We had some issues in the first-half because the central midfielders weren’t operating correctly. But I think we solved them in the second half and had more opportunities to score and denied the opposition too many chances as well.”. Habas said.

When asked why ATK’s performance fluctuates in different matches the coach said, “This is a new team. We have 7-8 new players in the first XI as compared to last season. A lot of the other teams have players who have been playing together for a long time. We are taking things match by match. After that we will think about making it to the semis or anything else,” he further added.

The hothead coach also remained neutral when asked about the refereeing that denied many penalty appeals.  “It was impossible to judge these from my position. I cannot give my opinion about these. I think it was a fair result.” Habas concluded.